Hiwaya
by Aria Illusine
Summary: Timeless: Sixteen-year-old Sakura has lived a very sheltered life as the ward of a group of immortals called the Akatsuki. And they will stop at nothing to keep their mortal girl out of the danger presented by demons, spirits, and boys. AkaSaku
1. Academia

Hello everyone, and welcome to Hiwaya, the Secret Episode Shop! This is a collection of first chapters of longer fics I've debated writing, sparked from plot bunnies that burrowed into my brain, PMs with some of my wonderful reviewers, and random suggestions from my friends. I'll be airing stuff that's never seen the light of day here (most of them are AUs, just as a warning), though just first chapters, to see what kind of reception they get and whether or not I'll be tempted to write more about them once Belonging gets wrapped up and frees up the rest of my time. If you like a particular story idea, please let me know by reviewing! More reviews will probably result in a better chance of that particular story getting written! Also, stories I've put a little more thought into will come with an extra scene at the end. Exciting right??

Ah yes, I also have a poll going on my profile page, so please check that out and vote for your favorite type of Princess!

And now, please enjoy!

Title: Academia

Genre: Romance/Drama/Humor

Warnings: None

Pairing: ItaSakuDei

Disclaimer: I dream about owning Naruto...but then I wake up.

* * *

**Academia**

"Wow…"

Sakura had known the school's interior would be beautiful, the front gate had been black iron wrought to look like something out of a fairytale castle and the lawn had been evenly mowed greenery with a stand of maples in the distance, but the interior was beyond anything she could have imagined.

Varnished oak paneled the flooring, the walls were of polished mahogany, and the golden light that spilled from the high, glass windows in the entrance hall illuminated a front room that exuded opulence from the plush, brocade-upholstered armchairs to the large fireplace that stood to one side with a marble mantle.

"This definitely falls under the category of 'mansion'," Sakura muttered under her breath as she shifted from one foot to the other, feeling a little uncomfortable in a plain pair of ratty jeans and a burgundy sweatshirt with her sage-and-silver suitcase by her side. Standing there in casual clothes, she felt out of place and wishing the dark-haired man who had brought her here hadn't left her on her own.

The quiet tread of footsteps made her glance around, wary and curious, but she couldn't actually see the footsteps' owners, and the discomfort of it made her want to back into a corner. Which was why when Asuma returned several minutes later, he had a little difficulty in locating the girl standing unobtrusively beside the door, behind a conveniently placed end table.

"Come, Sakura. The headmistress is ready to see you now. Leave your suitcase here, I'll have someone take your things to your dorm room while the headmistress speaks to you."

Nodding her acquiescence – after all, what else could she do? – Sakura followed the man down a number of ornate halls as she tried not to gawk like an airhead and disappeared into the room he indicated.

In spite of the fine workmanship of the room, exuding opulence like every other room in the mansion, it was obvious that this was an office. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with everything from science fiction novels to fat binders labeled with school semesters that were probably overflowing with grade reports and the like. The desk at one end of the office was piled high with papers, white sheets scattered over the top interspersed with what looked to be yellow and green exam sheets that still needed to be graded. And behind the desk was one of the most no-nonsense women Sakura had ever seen.

Hazel eyes watched her carefully from behind a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses, the woman's blonde hair pulled back away from her pale face. Her chin was a firm one, with thin lips that seemed perfect for stern commands, and high cheekbones. But in spite of the forbidding aura, she smiled pleasantly enough and rose out of her seat to extend a hand for Sakura to shake.

"Hello Sakura, I'm the headmistress, Tsunade, and I'd like to be the first to welcome you to the Senju Academy for the Gifted," the woman began, settling back into her seat as she motioned for Sakura to be seated as well. "We're very glad to have you here on scholarship and we hope you will continue to achieve excellence in your various academic classes for the rest of your time here with us."

"Thank you, Headmistress Tsunade."

"Now," Tsunade plowed on, watching Sakura's reactions carefully, "there are a few matters of business I'd like to attend to before you start classes. The school here serves breakfast, lunch, and, on special occasions, dinner. During the regular term though, dinner is up to the student's prerogative. Each dormitory wing is equipped with a small kitchenette, a refrigerator, and a microwave so feel free to stock up on groceries to make your own dinners, as the school does not provide those. Dormitories also have a single washer and dryer, and participate in the school's chore rotation, but I'm sure your dorm mates will explain all this to you at a later date. Formal classes begin at eight in the morning and end at three in the afternoon, whereupon there are three hours in which you may choose to participate in extracurriculars or the like. Still with me?"

Sakura nodded, feeling a little dumbfounded under the assault of so much new information.

"Good. After six, your time is your own. The dormitories maintain a strict policy of lights out at eleven and infractions will be dealt with harshly. Other than that, each dormitory wing consists of a common room and four bedrooms, one bathroom, one kitchenette, and a laundry closet. Your dormitory is…" Tsunade shuffled through some drawers in her desk, pulling out a manila envelope with a triumphant 'Aha!' and slid the thing over to the still-stunned sixteen-year-old. "You live in the North wing, Maple room. Perfect. I believe one of your dorm mates, Konan, should be coming out of class soon. She'll help you find your room, and I'm sure she'll be happy to help answer any questions you have."

The blonde rose to her feet again, prompting Sakura to follow suit, and strode to the door with a purposeful gait. Halting at the doorway, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled. "Welcome to Senju, Sakura."

* * *

"Well, we're certainly going to be a colorful bunch."

Still startled and disoriented from her meeting with Headmistress Tsunade, Sakura bristled at the insult to her hair and turned, a vitriolic statement lodged on the tip of her tongue…only to swallow it with a gasp of surprise.

The girl so casually leaning against the wall was, for lack of a better word, _cool_.

She was dressed casually in a pair of pale, blue-grey capris worn low on her hips, with a sleeveless, black turtleneck with a pattern of snow-white doves tracked over the bottom hem. But it was her hair that really drew Sakura's gaze, because the hair that was pulled back into a messy bun and tucked in with an origami flower was a vibrant, striking blue.

'_Okay…she probably wasn't talking about just me then with that comment about colorful,_' Sakura amended mentally, doing her best to get over her initial surprise.

"I'm guessing you're the new dorm member," Konan said, her look appraising as her eyes swept Sakura's shorter form and the pointedly ignored the bustling crowd of curious students behind her. "Nice. Well, I'm Shikigami Konan, not to be confused with _shinigami_, because I am not a death god," the girl clarified, accurately interpreting the rose-headed girl's look of confusion, "And since you probably have no idea where our dorm is, I'll take you there. Come on."

Blinking – she had been distracted by Konan's lip piercing – Sakura was surprised to find that Konan had already turned and started off down the corridor, not bothering to check that the younger girl was with her. Muffling a yelp, Sakura dove through the inquisitive crowd and hurried to catch up.

"Um…thanks for all this," Sakura managed, still feeling rather tongue-tied but needing to fill up the silence as they went up a spiral staircase, leaving the bustle of the other students behind.

"Don't mention it," Konan replied. "New student privileges. And you'll find I wasn't kidding when I said we were going to be colorful."

"What…do you mean?" Sakura asked, hurrying to keep up.

"Blue hair, pink hair, and then there's our two roommates, the blond boy and the dark-haired one, both of whom will…Sakura?" Konan called, half-turning when she noticed the younger girl frozen on the stairs below her. "Earth to Sakura?"

"…B-Boys?" Sakura stammered, color rising to her cheeks as Konan raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, I was under the impression that the dormitories were…gender specific?"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Konan replied blandly. "The dormitories are mixed. But I wouldn't worry about the other two. They get along decently well, and I will deal with them if they get out of hand around you. Not," she added as Sakura caught up to her, "that I will intercede for you all the time. You have to learn to deal with them on your own too."

"Of course…I was just a little surprised," Sakura said, trying to match Konan's swift pace and wishing (not for the first time) that she were just a little bit taller. Barely three inches over five feet made for some difficulty sometimes.

"Here we are," Konan said without preamble as she opened the door at the top of the stairs marked 'North Wing Dormitory', and then strode across to another door on the far side of the comfortable looking common room to a door marked 'Maple Room', "and this is your place," without giving Sakura more than a second or two to gape at her new living quarters.

After the downstairs it was really just more of the same, but Sakura had lived in a modest apartment with her Aunt Shizune up until now. Everything inside Senju Academy was shockingly decadent.

Especially her room.

It was, in essence, a dorm room. It had the requisite bed, desk, and bookshelf ensemble, along with a large dresser for clothing and a mirror hanging on the wall. But it also had a huge window complete with a window seat next to the bookshelf, a thick rug on the floor, two ornate looking lamps, a bedside table with a reading light, and more pillows than she thought any girl would know what to do with.

But her marveling was interrupted by the arrival of her other two dormitory mates, a loud but cheerful, "I'd have turned in a cheery bomb as my art assignment if I could!" echoing through the common room before they caught sight of her.

Sakura's vision tunneled, blotting out the blond from her sight as she zeroed in on the face of the dark-haired male behind him.

"You!" she cried, feeling her face grow hot.

But her voice wasn't the only one.

With a jolt of surprise, her tunnel vision dispelled, and she focused on the angrily twisted face of the blond. "What?"

"You! You're…you're _Haruno_, right?!"

She recoiled. "How do you know my name?"

"You're the one who-,"

"Shut up, Deidara," Konan ordered curtly, cutting the blond off. "Sakura is going to be our dormitory mate. No open hostilities."

"Please don't say that, Konan," Sakura said in a quiet hiss. "I don't know this…Deidara, but I'm not exactly on friendly terms with _him._"

The blue-haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Itachi?"

Sakura, locking gazes with the Uchiha, felt her eyes narrow. "Yes."

"I have to say, Konan, I don't know exactly why Sakura is so upset with me," Itachi said calmly, pulling his eyes away from the rosette girl to face the cerulean blue one, "But I have no hostilities towards her in return."

"Of course you don't," Sakura snapped irritably. "I've never done anything to you or your friends."

"And I have?"

"Of course you have!" the girl growled. "You decided to leave your position as the heir to Uchiha Inc. and pursue a career in forensics. Great as that is," she said, not bothering to mask her sarcasm, "it also means you left one of my _best friends_ at the mercy of your crazy-businessmen relatives! You left Sasuke to deal with the Uchiha elders on his own! And for that," she hissed angrily, "I think I'm well within my rights to hate you."

Spinning sharply on her heel, she turned momentarily to face Konan. "I'm sorry, I really do think this place is nice. I'll try my best not to have any open hostilities but," her smile turned a little bitter, "I don't know how smoothly the year's going to go from here." Nodding a goodbye, she disappeared into her room and shut the door."

* * *

"Get out, get out, get _out!_" Sakura growled at the bathroom door. She was by no means a morning person, and waiting almost an hour outside the bathroom to take her morning shower and make use of the amenities before breakfast had stripped her of what little patience she had. "Who the heck is in the bathroom?!"

"Sakura?"

The rose-haired girl turned with a half-smile, the best she could manage under the circumstances, and raised an eyebrow. "It's not you?"

Konan glanced at the closed door on Sakura's other side. "Hardly. If you want the bathroom, it's best to get up early. I hope to see you at breakfast."

Sakura flashed the older girl a quizzical look. "You…hope?"

The cerulean-haired girl smiled wryly. "Yeah, I hope."

"Oh…great."

With a tiny groan, Sakura, clad in her favorite, rose-hued pajama shirt emblazoned with "Natural Pinkette" on the front in crimson, a gift from her other best friend, Naruto, slid to the floor.

The door behind her clicked open, and in a cloud of steam, her dormitory mate exited the bathroom.

"You!" Sakura's aspen-leaf eyes narrowed. "I thought it'd be _Itachi_ primping for an hour with his silky-I mean," she stammered, "But it was _you_ instead. What's your problem?"

"My problem?" Deidara asked, his smile too sinister to be cheerful. "That would be _you, _un_._"

"What'd I ever do to you?"

The blond glared. "Don't act like you're all innocent, or are you just a hypocrite?" he shot at her. "You did exactly what Itachi did to you, un. Made my best friend's life hell. Remember that one time the art department at your old high school caught fire and you implicated a redhead you saw walking down the second floor hallway, un? That was him," Deidara hissed. "Now Sasori's stuck at a boarding school in _Germany_ because of you."

The blond's eyes narrowed menacingly. "So if you think waiting an hour for the bathroom is bad, un…you can't even imagine what else I can pull."

On the other side of the door directly to the bathroom's right, Itachi leaned back against the smooth mahogany, lips twisting in the ghost of a smirk.

"This certainly promises to be an interesting school year…"

TBC

* * *

**Senju Academy Rooftop, Past Midnight**

"You're kidding right?" Sakura asked incredulously, her eyes flickering from Itachi to Deidara to the edge of the roof as she tried to catch her tower-mates' expressions in the poorly lit darkness. "_Right?_"

Behind them, the indignant sound of the teacher on dorm duty, Ebisu, huffing and puffing up the stairs to the North wing, got louder and louder, threatening to overtake the pounding in Sakura's ears.

"Look, it's either this or get caught, un," Deidara reasoned impatiently. "Come _on!_"

"He has a point, Sakura," Itachi said, sounding completely unperturbed as they stood there on the roof, discussing the insane. "I, for one, would not like to get caught out past curfew by that man. He wouldn't understand something like stargazing on the roof."

Seconds ticked by in silence as both boys watched her until…

"Argh! I can't believe I'm doing this," Sakura grumbled, grabbing onto Deidara and Itachi's hands. "You realize if we miss we're as good as dead, right? And even if we don't miss, we could be seriously injured."

"On the contrary, we're only one floor up and the side of the pool closest to us is somewhere between fifteen and twenty feet deep," Itachi replied placidly. "We won't miss."

"You'd better hope we don't," Sakura muttered under her breath. "One, two, three…JUMP!"

They catapulted off the roof into empty space.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Academia (which I started writing after Belonging turned into an AkaSaku instead of staying an ItaSakuDei like it was supposed to)! In short, Deidara hates Sakura who hates Itachi, and Konan has to keep them all in line. How do they get from being at each others' throats to actually liking each other? I believe this is where I grin secretively. ^^

Reviews and cookies fuel the muse! Also, check out the poll on the profile! ALSO, may change the pen name from amnerine to Aria Illusi, so be aware of possible future changes!

Aria, out.


	2. Sharingan

Welcome, everyone, to Hiwaya chapter 2! Sharingan is...well, definitely darker than what I had planned for it...but it's really just the first chapter. The following chapters should probably be more humorous and less dark, but what's about all the distinction there is.

Ah, in other news, I have a quick poll up on whether or not I should post a drabble I wrote, so please vote ^^ I'll be putting up the Princess poll again after I'm done with this one.

Title: Sharingan

Genre: Romance/Drama/Humor

Warnings: Dark, vampires (thankfully, they DON'T sparkle...)

Pairing: MultiSaku (Itachi, Kakashi, Sasuke, Shisui)

Disclaimer: I dream about owning Naruto...but then I wake up.

* * *

**Sharingan**

The night air was chillier than she had expected, making goosebumps appear all over her arms as she struggled to zip up her jacket. Late March evenings could get frigid, regardless of how muggy the afternoons were, and as she briskly trotted down the poorly lit street, Sakura severely regretted not taking a thicker jacket to class.

"But I didn't know I'd decide to hit the library up later, or that I'd be stuck there so late," she muttered under her breath, tone bordering on petulant. She had a decently even temper nowadays, something she had spend most of her high school years working to achieve, and it had gotten her through grueling classes and mind numbing exams alike. But her day had been a tiring one, and the icy cold of the evening was eroding away the little patience she had left. "Now I'm freezing, tired, and it's _dark_."

As if on cue, like a badly choreographed scene in a cheesy horror film, a scuffle sounded in the dark behind her.

The rose-haired twenty-one year old stiffened minutely, the hands tucked into the pockets of her zip-up hoodie clenching in reflex at the sudden adrenaline rush. "The squirrels sure are active this evening," she muttered, attempting to reassure herself as she quickened her pace.

But her blood ran cold when the scuffle sounded behind her again, closer this time. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, and it terrified her that, in the darkness, she could see no one there.

'_Crap…_'

It was nothing. She had to convince herself of that. True the lighting was bad, but she had pretty decent night vision. If someone had been following her, she would have seen them. She had to believe that.

The distinct sound of a footfall behind her echoed, the sound loud in her ears.

She _knew_ there hadn't been anyone behind her two seconds ago.

With her heart hammering in her chest, she through all caution – and dignity – to the wind and sprinted down the street.

Behind her, the strangest sound of fluttering, like tattered cloth or wings filled the night.

Sakura's heart rose up to her throat. She could hear the harsh thudding of her own heartbeat over the pounding of her feet on the concrete of the sidewalk. Her breath caught, a stitch developing in her side as she ran.

A body barreled into her from behind, knocking all the breath out of her as she landed hard, scraping her palms as she tried to grab onto the shrubbery by the sidewalk to break her fall.

Powerful hands grabbed the back of her jacket, hauling her up with superhuman strength that forced a shriek from her lungs. With desperation fueling her, she struggled, kicking and flailing and finding no purchase. There wasn't enough space inside her to feel anything other than utter terror, and the emotion tore her throat with screams. But whoever it was behind her slammed her to a convenient tree, the bark rough against her cheek as she struggled.

An icy chuckle shot pure, mind numbing fear down her spine.

"Dinner."

'_…Dinner??_' Sakura mused, her thoughts a small blip of sanity among the storm of chaos in her mind. But it was her last coherent thought as putrid breath ghosted across her cheek, paralyzing her into stillness and silence.

"Cat got your tongue?" the strangely sibilant voice hissed in her ear. "You were shrieking so pleasantly before."

A shrill cry that was laced with shamefully hopeless tears surged to her throat, but it was cut off before it erupted as _fangs_ sank into her throat.

Pain like nothing she had ever imagined burst into her brain, claiming her with darkness like moonless nightfall.

=*~*~*=

"Holy _shit_," a distinctively boyish male voice swore, adding to that phrase a number of even more vitriolic curses. "Ero-sennin, we have to do something!"

Warm hands levered up her limp body, peeling her sticky jacket off her shoulders. A whimper of pain escaped her, and her rescuer sucked in a sharp breath.

"Ero-sennin…"

"Calm down, Naruto," a deep, gravelly voice murmured, another presence coming to hover over her prone body; she could feel the tightly reined wrath flowing off the new arrival. "She's lingering on death's doorstep. She needs immortal blood to live, and even then, she'll be forever changed. Orochimaru made sure of that."

'_Orochimaru._'

Even wavering on the edge of unconsciousness Sakura could feel her throat clog with bile at the name. Something inside her screamed hatred and fear.

"Your blood-,"

"No. I was mortal once, Naruto, remember? My immortality was a gift of years of hermitage. I can't pass that on to her through my blood. It has to be you."

"Will it work?" the younger voice – '_Naruto…the one named Naruto,_' Sakura's mind filed the information away on autopilot – asked warily. "Blood transference isn't always…safe. What if I make her…worse?"

"There isn't any other way at the moment," the older voice admonished sternly. "If we do nothing, she dies."

Naruto made a noise of frustration that, to Sakura's ears, sounded akin to an animal's snarl. But his touch was infinitely gentle when he shifted an arm around her shoulders and brought a wrist to her lips.

"I'm sorry if…if this isn't what you want," he muttered, his words fluttering across her lips with his breath.

'_He…feels like fire,_' Sakura's befuddled mind mused.

"Drink."

Warm flesh was pressed to her mouth, and for a second Sakura didn't understand what was happening to her, but then a warm liquid dribbled across her lips and down her throat…and then she didn't think at all.

Hunger gripped her, hunger like she had never known it. And in a flash of movement startling in someone who had lost so much blood, she bit down on the proffered vein and drank.

As the wrist's owner hissed in pain, Sakura felt heat blossom in her stomach, like she had just taken a huge swallow of hot chocolate after running around out in the snow, and her eyelids fluttered.

Strangely warm, blue eyes were all she saw before succumbing to darkness once more.

=*~*~*=

_"Cat got your tongue?"_

_ The sibilant voice was strikingly familiar. Orochimaru. She had a name to go with it now, the name of the one who had hunted her._

_ "You were shrieking so pleasantly before."_

_ Pain erupted, streaking all the way down her spine, as fangs dug into her flesh._

"NO!"

Sakura surged upright, flailing in terror's iron grip.

Strong hands pressed her shoulders, forcing her back onto the pillows.

"Stop. You will hurt yourself otherwise," a soft, yet commanding, female voice ordered her.

Suddenly drained of the will to resist, Sakura felt her body relax into the pillows behind her, without her conscious consent, barely managing to turn her head to get a better look at her observer as she slumped back into the softness at her back.

A beautiful woman in a lovely, navy kimono embroidered with a bellflower pattern in silver and palest sapphire sat on a high-backed chair beside the bed. Her raven-black hair was pinned back with a set of amber-inlaid combs that gleamed in the silken coil of her dark tresses. Her pale skin seemed almost white against the darkness of her hair and kimono. But her eyes radiated concern and warmth, and Sakura found herself more at ease in a strange bed than she had felt in the weeks since her semester had started.

"How are you feeling? The woman asked, her obsidian eyes trained on Sakura's pale face.

"Disoriented," Sakura admitted, far more candidly than she had intended. "Disoriented and feeling like a house fell on me. What," she swallowed, a little surprised to find a lump rising in her throat, "What happened to me?"

The woman's eyes turned grave.

The answer was obviously nothing good, but Sakura had been expecting that. She didn't usually get mugged at night, only to somehow be rescued by two individuals whose conversation hadn't felt entirely…real, and wake up in a strange bed in a strange room in a high-quality yukata that was _not_ what she had worn earlier.

"You were…attacked," she said at last, when the silence had stretched out too long to be comfortable. "By a man my family should have put down long ago. Orochimaru."

A shiver ran through the viridian-eyed girl at the name. '_Am I ever going to stop that?_' she wondered vaguely as her hands clenched in the silken material of the duvet covering her.

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked when the minute trembling in her hands finally stopped.

For the first time, the woman looked uncomfortable, her dark eyes flickering from Sakura's face to the door at the far side of the gloomy room and back. Sakura could barely make the door's outline from the single lamp that illuminated the two of them, but there was a distinct feeling that they were not as alone as she'd thought they were, and the notion made her frown.

"That man is the responsibility of my clan, the Uchiha," the woman responded, distracting Sakura from her previous line of thought. "Had we been able to destroy him when he murdered my cousin, Obito, years ago, this might never have happened."

"I'm sorry…" Sakura murmured, feeling a sudden kinship with this woman. They were linked by the man who had attacked her, and killed the woman's family member; "He-,"

"Is she alright?!" a voice asked, the tone bordering on frantic. The boyish timbre was familiar to Sakura; it was the younger of the two who had rescued her.

"Shut up, dobe," a new and unfamiliar voice countered sharply. "Mother is-,"

A scuffle erupted outside abruptly, and just as Sakura, finally disobeying the raven-haired woman's command, struggled to a sitting position, the door banged open and several people spilled into the room.

"Rose-girl!"

A strangely animalistic looking blond with three whisker marks on each cheek bounded to Sakura's bedside, his blue eyes filled with concern. "Rose-girl! Are you okay?"

Staring blankly at the blond boy, Sakura found herself tickled by a feeling she hadn't thought she would experience for a while. Giggles bubbled to her lips and overflowed. "M-my name is…S-Sakura, not…Rose-girl," she managed between bursts of mirth. "I feel…a little weak, but a lot better than I would have expected."

"I'm Naruto!" the blond told her bluntly, grinning as her laughter subsided. "I'm so glad you aren't dead!"

"Shut _up_, dobe," the other voice from earlier spoke up, and Sakura switched her attention to the other people who had spilled into the room.

Three dark-haired individuals, '_Part of the Uchiha clan?_' Sakura wondered to herself, and one silver-haired one made up the rest of the crowd that filled her room along with Naruto. Unlike the blond, their faces were much less open; the emotions she could feel rolling off of them a mixture of tightly coiled anger and frustration. '_That's…unsettling…_'

"Sakura-san," the woman beside her said softly, capturing the girl's attention once more, "these are other members of my clan, my sons, Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke, my nephew, Uchiha Shisui, and our family friend, Hatake Kakashi. They, my husband who could not be here now, and I, Uchiha Mikoto, are responsible for Orochimaru. Please, stay with us until we have dealt with him."

"I…I'd feel more comfortable just going home," Sakura said, trying to smile.

"You cannot."

Sakura's aspen-leaf eyes flew to the one who had spoken, surprise and irritation mingling in their depths as she focused on the one Mikoto had introduced as Itachi.

"And why is that?" Sakura asked cautiously, trying not to give voice to her sudden flare of anger at the male's imperious manner of speech.

"Orochimaru is a calculating individual," Itachi replied smoothly, making no sign that he had seen the flash of annoyance in her eyes. "If he has attacked you, he most likely also knows where you live. Your residence is no longer safe."

A reasonable answer.

Unable to argue against the logic of his statement, Sakura quieted a second, then turned on Naruto. "What if…what if I stay at his place?" she asked the room in general. But the answer to that question was clear to her even before her question was all out, the apologetic denial all over Naruto's boyish face.

But his words, when he spoke, were not directed at her.

"You haven't told her yet, Mikoto-san?" he asked, cerulean eyes fixed on the woman still seated at Sakura's side.

"Tell me what?" Sakura asked, feeling an iciness spreading from the back of her neck to inch down her spine. "Tell me _what?_"

"You have to stay here in the Uchiha compound for now," Naruto replied, his blue-eyed gaze apologetic. "They are best equipped to help you for the next few months because…the man who attacked you, Orochimaru, was a vampire. And now you are too."

=*~*~*=

"I'm…what?"

To Itachi's fine-tuned hearing, the rosy-headed girl – '_Sakura. She called herself Sakura._' – sounded more upset than incredulous, as if everything Naruto had said had to be a twisted prank they had all decided to pull on her and she wanted them to stop. In spite of the way he had spoken to her just minutes ago, he wasn't without feeling, and a tendril of sympathy unfurled in his gut at the sound of her voice.

"That…that's ri-ridiculous," Sakura said, forcing a laugh. "Vampires don't exist. I was mugged. Oro-That man…attacked me. But I'm not a vampire. Be-because…because vampires don't exist…"

She was falling into hysterics. Itachi could smell the salty tang of tears as they filled her eyes, all of them could.

"Here."

Moving in his unassuming way, Kakashi had pulled a small, round object from one of the pockets of his navy pants, slipping beside the rose-haired girl. "Look."

Gentle hands tilted Sakura's face, and Itachi stifled a hiss of shock and anger at the brutal puncture marks that marred the girl's slender throat. Orochimaru had been particularly sadistic; the wounds no longer bled, but the flesh was torn and jagged around the bite, and Sakura whimpered in pain as the silver-haired male put the marking on display.

"He really…"

"Stop that, Kakashi," Mikoto admonished, breaking the grim air that had surrounded the room for the first time that evening as she smacked the man who had usurped her place by Sakura's bedside upside the head. "You have no right to bring our guest to tears. Now get out, all of you. I will talk to Sakura-san alone."

And with all the force of a whirlwind, or an overprotective mother hen, the Uchiha matriarch chased the males out of the bedroom and shut the door behind them, the door lock falling in place with a solid click.

"Good job, old man," Naruto growled, making a face at the one responsible for their exile from Sakura's bedroom. "Mikoto-san will probably never let us near her again."

"Speak for yourself, Naruto," the only wavy-haired Uchiha, Itachi's cousin, Shisui, spoke up with a small smirk, though the expression didn't reach his eyes. "If Sakura-san is a vampire, it is our duty to oversee her transition while we hunt for Orochimaru."

"Yeah, at a distance," Naruto shot back with a challenging grin, his whisker marks deepening. "You know-,"

"Okaa-san can be overprotective," Sasuke, the last member of the group to have evacuated the bedroom, finished. "Naruto is, unbelievably, correct. We should have handled that better."

"Enough, otouto," Itachi interjected, effectively silencing the others with his soft-spoken words. "We will rectify the situation. Orochimaru has been flying under our radar for long enough, but he slipped up when he attacked the girl. He will be dealt with."

The two Uchiha siblings locked gazes, both pairs of obsidian-hard eyes grim with anger, but then Sasuke turned away with a curt nod, followed by Naruto and Kakashi, leaving the two elder Uchiha members a quiet moment to themselves.

"Mikoto-san will tell her everything," Shisui said softly into the still corridor in general. "She will know the truth and we can worry about her reaction to it later. It's something she would have had to come to grips with anyway."

"I do not worry for her," Itachi replied curtly, obsidian eyes narrowing as his ears caught the telltale sounds of a nose being blown along with the scent of salt again. "Only that her apprehension of us will slow down our hunt for Orochimaru."

"Itachi, Sakura already knows she's a vampire. You know how rare it is for someone to live through a changing, even if they've been given immortal blood; only those with the strongest wills survive. Sakura will not let the fact that we, also, are vampires, and her keepers, keep up from our task."

Wishing he could dispel the scent of the girl's unhappiness seeping through the heavy, oaken door, Itachi turned abruptly and strode away, flashing his cousin one last look. "She had better be strong. Our life is not an easy one."

TBC

* * *

**Uchiha Household, Dawn**

"Sakura!"

She turned away from the window, startled by the cry, just in time to see the flash of darkness before Itachi snatched her away from the sill and dawn shot over the horizon.

Feet thumped loudly over the hardwood floors as Shisui, the one whom she could vaguely remember yelling her name, snatched the window curtains, hauling them shut with what Sakura would have labeled unnecessary force. But Shisui and his harsh behavior towards window accessories was the last thing on Sakura's mind as she tried her hardest just to breathe within the circle of Itachi's arms.

The hard, unyielding warmth of him soaked into her back through the two layers of their respective shirts, his long, raven-wing hair tickling her neck as his breath did the same to the shell of her ear. Frozen in place like some prey animal in the eyes of a predator, Sakura struggled to reassert control over her own body.

"I-Ita-,"

"Idiot."

The word was whispered, harsh and ragged, as though he hadn't meant for her to hear it, something she was certain of when his next words were delivered in his usual, silky, even-toned tenor.

"Sakura, we are _vampires_. Do not most legends enumerate that one of the easiest way to kill a vampire is to subject it to sunlight?"

"B-but, Shisui…"

The arm around her waist tightened minutely, as if displeased by her assumption, but then the pressure disappeared abruptly as Itachi released her, and she wondered if she had only imagined it.

"Shisui is over half a millennia old, Sakura," Itachi admonished, turning her with surprising gentleness to face him. "He can withstand some sunlight. _You,_ on the other hand, went through your changing two days ago." For a second, Sakura distinctly saw the Uchiha's eyes bleed a startling crimson that made her breath catch in her throat, and then it was gone, though the trembling it had started in her fingers still remained. "Do not presume that sunlight is safe for you anymore."

* * *

ItaSaku is my weakness! So of course the extra scene had to be an ItaSaku one XD

Fear not, if this gets written the pairings will be more spread out. This scene just happens to be ItaSaku because they're easy to write for me ^^ In other news, I'm weirded out that I seem to be able to get into Itachi's head pretty easily nowadays, and **I will be changing my pen name to Aria Illusine on April Fools Day (yeah...bad choice, I know. at least I have an excuse if I forget to change it...I can be all "April Fools...hehehe...sorry.")**

Please remember to vote on my quick poll! And feed the poor muse, she desires cookies and reviews! She's working overtime during finals week for some reason...

Aria, out.


	3. Behind Silk Curtains

This is probably my favorite of the Hiwaya series so far ^^ and the rating DEFINITELY flirts with the line of M =P In case you were wondering, it's an AU with a sort of old-world feel to it. Think of it as a mix between the Arabian Nights and ancient Japan. This one's a tad longer than my other ones because it was so fun to write that I kept on cramming more and more in. Also, my all time favorite (to pick on) villain has made a return appearance! I ought to use Danzo more often as my villain...but I don't know enough about him and...well...he annoys me.

For those of you who wanted Sakura as a Cunning Princess, here she is. This is how I would write her, Cunning with a side of Imperious.

Please vote on my profile poll and enjoy this chapter!

Title: Behind Silk Curtains

Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama (can't decide if there's more humor or drama just yet...)

Warnings: Risque situations in the future?

Pairings: AkaSaku

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto...we'd all know it.

* * *

**Behind Silk Curtains**

"Ah, my Grand Vizier. This is…unexpected," Tsunade murmured, though she turned a sharp smile to her right hand man nonetheless, the perfumed silks and mist-linen of her gown rustling sensually as she raised a hand in greeting and seemed to flow off the dais to the pale man in the obsidian-silk robe at the other end of the hall.

"I merely wished to pay my respects," he responded, his tone taking on a sibilantly manipulative quality. "And my well wishes, of course. Your daughter is eighteen today, is she not?"

"I do not deign to answer that question, Vizier," the blonde woman replied airily, her hazel eyes evenly challenging him in the game of politics they always played, had always played since she first became Empress of Konoha and he, her Grand Vizier. "All of my empire knows that it is the imperial princess' birthday today. The city has been buzzing with anticipation for this very day for months. My daughter is finally of age; she is a woman grown and will be able to take a more active role in ruling my empire at my side. You know that my daughter is eighteen today, do not phrase such statements as questions, Orochimaru."

"I intended not to act presumptuous, as you have never failed to inform me during all our council meetings," the amber-eyed man responded easily, his smile a vaguely sinister expression fixed to his features. "I am aware today is the princess' birthday."

Tsunade turned away from him, striding off in a cloud of rich silks until she reached a window aperture where she waved him to her once more.

"Tell me what it is that is on your mind. You wouldn't say such things unless it was a matter you thought important," the woman demanded imperiously once he was in earshot.

"I merely wished to inform you of the greatest misfortune the most recent mission you have charged me with has turned out to be," Orochimaru replied with a smile worthy of a shark. "There are no male heirs to be had among the neighboring kingdoms. Your precious daughter has no possible candidates to become her husband among her equals."

If the news perturbed the empress, she did not show it, merely leveling the ash-pale man with eyes that were filled with the sort of strength of spirit that she shared with her daughter. "Then I will request that Sakura choose among the sons of nobles from our kingdom. It is a matter easily resolved-,"

"Forgive me, my empress," Orochimaru interrupted, looking not at all apologetic, "But I wished to say that, as of yet, there are none among the nobility suitable. Therefore, rather than return to you in so empty-handed a manner, I took it upon myself to bequeath upon the imperial princess a birthday gift to suit her rank and thus prepare her for the possibility of matrimony."

Tsunade raised a single eyebrow in an expression of controlled inquisitiveness. "And what such gift would that have been?" she asked icily.

"A gift any young woman of her station would desire on her eighteenth birthday, Tsunade-sama," the vizier replied with a smile that masked all dubious intentions. "A harem."

=*~*~*=

Sakura was not, in fact, privy to the actual conversation that had taken place between her mother and Konoha's Grand Vizier, but the intelligent woman found herself becoming rather rapidly, and intimately, familiar with the _subject_ of said conversation.

At least, as intimate as one could be when, after a long afternoon of lessons in magic from one's teacher, Shizune, one retired to the imperial chambers to discover nine males draped over the very symbol of one's innermost sanctum. Namely, one's bed.

It did not help in the least that the men – they were very much men, very _obviously_ men – were clad in the loose breeches favored by the palace servants, and open robes of varying colors, and very little else.

"What…is the meaning of this?" she asked cautiously, still frozen under the marble archway that connected her extensive personal library to her bedchamber. "You are not my usual attendants."

Mentally, she berated herself as a number of the males exchanged cryptic glances. '_This is not the best time to be using your ever-present wit and sarcasm, Sakura,_' she thought grimly as she let bravado take her several steps forward. "Explain yourselves before I call the guards to evict you."

But in spite of her commanding words, she waited patiently as the males glanced amongst each other in a silent semblance of communication before they unanimously chose one to speak for them. She was surprised at their decision, though she smothered the emotion before it threatened to show on her face. She could not afford to show them anything other than a brave front until she knew just who they were. Still, it was a bit strange that the one who spoke up for the group was perhaps the youngest of the lot but one, with silken ebony hair that tied at the nape of his neck and raven-dark eyes that seemed to flash crimson in the light. Had she been asked to guess at the group's leader, she would have chosen the orange-haired male with the entrancing, pale eyes and the interesting piercings down the bridge of his nose, or perhaps the one with dark hair that was almost navy in hue, and a strangely blue tint to his skin. The one with a shark-like aura to his visage and gills tattooed to his cheeks.

"The matter is simple," the young, raven-haired male spoke, his soft, silky tenor commanding her attention away from the others. The hint of a smile, laced with strangely smug amusement, touched his lips. "We are your harem."

"…"

They stared back at her, matching her sudden look of dumbfounded surprise with gazes that ranged from bland nonchalance to keen interest.

"…My what?"

"Harem," the dark-haired one replied evenly. "We are a birthday gift."

'_A birthday gift,_' her mind practically gibbered with shock and bewilderment. '_I am to have a _harem_ for my birthday gift. A harem of nine men._' A crimson mist seemed to fall over her vision, crowding out her confusion to replace it with something she was more familiar with. Something she knew how to work with. Anger. '_I am _eighteen_ today, and someone had the…the…the nerve to give me a harem! What am I to do with it?! With them?! What utterly grotesque being-?!"_

"How _dare_ they!" she ground out through clenched teeth, forgetting her audience. "Is _this_ subtlety? Is it?! Just as well they could have tied a naked man to my bed and have done with it if they wanted to tell me I ought to marry, or produce an heir, or…or learn to please my future husband…"

She was bright red in the face now, but too angry to check her words and completely oblivious to the men who now openly showed their amusement at the girl's heated remarks.

"This is one of the councilors' doings. I know it," she murmured to herself. "Mother would never do something like this to me. She _knows_ what I think about arranged marriages and harems and…" spinning on her heel and still muttering under her breath, Sakura turned to exit her chambers and find just who had done this to her…only to find her way blocked by several of the people she would have sworn were still on her bed.

Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed that the remaining members were now standing behind her. She was surrounded.

'_Careful. You might have just been dropped into a truly sticky situation, Sakura,_' she warned herself unnecessarily. Her brain was already processing possible options at top speed, but at the moment she was coming up with nothing tangible, so she locked gazes with the man standing directly in front of her, craning her neck to do so, and said, every inch the polite imperial princess, "I would like to leave. Please step out of the way."

"Nothing doing, hime," the shark-faced man replied with a grin that rapidly turned sinister, the Konohan word for princess sounding like a threat on his lips. "You see, we're under some very strict orders to make certain of a few things."

Blood running cold – Sakura could already foresee what these orders might pertain to – the girl forced herself to tuck a lock of rose-hued hair behind an ear in a nonchalant gesture as she secretly slid a ensorcelled needle, a senbon, from the numerous hairpins that styled her uniquely colored hair. "And what orders would those be?" she asked, aspen-leaf green eyes going cold as ice.

"Don't play innocent, hime," he smirked in return, reaching out to firmly grasp her chin with a large, calloused hand. "I think you know full well what our orders are. We are required to bring about your death-,"

Sakura's hand, senbon clenched between her knuckles, came arcing up to Kisame's jugular.

A firm hand encircled her wrist, mid-motion, stopping her in her tracks as the senbon was pried from her fingers with care.

"Please do not underestimate us, hime," the raven-haired one who had spoken earlier told her quietly, handling her with surprising gentleness as she stiffened in his grasp, unnerved by his touch. "We were commanded to kill you because we are the most capable. We are not easily fooled."

Sakura swallowed hard, feeling fear shudder down her spine as his fingers lingered, for just a second too long, on the back of her wrist.

"If that is so," she managed when she was in control of her voice and emotions – for the most part – once more, "Why am I not already dead?"

"We have a proposition for you."

Verdant eyes wavered as suspicion and fear warred with a sudden hope as Sakura turned slightly to face the new speaker, the man with the bright copper hair and strangely placed piercings.

"What do you mean?" she asked cautiously, narrowing her eyes as if that would hide the hope in them. She disliked asking so many questions, especially as this was not one of her magic lessons, but the situation had quickly spun out of her control and, incapacitated by a group of people she could only assume were trained assassins, she meant to get as much information out of them as possible. She would be thankful of it if she managed to live through this ordeal.

"None of us directly holds a grudge against you, princess," the man informed her plainly. "Left to our own devices, none of us would be here."

"A comforting thought," Sakura replied sarcastically before she could stop herself.

The coppery-haired man raised an eyebrow in mildly surprised amusement as other members of the group chuckled quietly or exchanged interested glances. Sakura merely colored crimson, wishing she could have controlled her cheeky tongue.

"We are here because a single man within your nobility has laid a curse upon us. We are bound to kill you before you become your mother's heir, or else we shall die instead. We would like our revenge on the man for his attempt to control us."

Setting aside the information that a member of the Imperial Court wished her dead for a later date, Sakura focused on some of the more immediately pertinent facts at hand. "Forgive me if I'm pointing out the obvious," she spoke up, glancing around the circle of assassins fencing her in, "But it seems to me that I could call my guards to subdue you and keep you in imprisoned until Mother names me her heir. The curse would kill you and my problem would be solved."

Too fast for her to register, the two males nearest her moved like liquid lightning.

Icy metal pressed gently against the warm flesh of her throat.

"I believe you see my point," the intricately-pierced man said calmly, watching her for any sort of reaction.

Sakura, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid, merely nodded slightly, though the motion was disconcerting to make. The blades against her throat were not causing her pain, but the subtle scrape of their sharp edges against her skin caused goosebumps to rise all over her arms, visible to those closest to her.

She couldn't stifle the shiver that ran down her spine when the daggers were retracted.

"Tell me what the deal is; I prefer to remain alive," she said bluntly, forcing herself not to check to see if she was bleeding.

A swirl of _something_ settled in his pale eyes momentarily, awakening curious thoughts in Sakura's mind, but then he seemed to push them aside, focusing on her and her alone.

"The man who cursed us has an object that holds our individual life forces. That is what gives him sway over us. We want you to find us that object and bring it to us so that we may free ourselves of him and gain our revenge."

"And in return?" Sakura asked, needing him to say the words she wanted confirmed.

"In return, we will spare your life."

Sakura nodded.

It was nothing she hadn't expected.

"I could agree to this, but…" she smiled insincerely, "I'm sure there is a catch in all this. If you would care to enlighten me…"

The near-approval in his eyes startled her, but she squashed down the feeling as quickly as it came. She could not afford to be distracted.

"We cannot reveal to you in any way which noble cursed us, nor can we tell you what the object he keeps our lives contained in is, or what it even looks like. We cannot even harm him, nor help you, in any way."

'_Of course. Something like this could not be easy,_' Sakura's mind quipped, a single thought free of her all-consuming frustration.

"And you are trusting that I will try this nigh impossible task because I would rather attempt the slim chance you give me for life than let you kill me now." She leveled an even gaze, bolstered by wavering pride and bravery, at the ones who held her captive. "You think I would cling to life and, in procuring the instrument of your revenge, solidify my survival because, as the one in control of your lives, I could order you to spare my own when I release you." Her chin rose boldly as she glanced from one man to another, daring them to tell her different.

No one did.

With a grim smile, Sakura nodded. "I thought so."

"This debate is tiresome," the redhead next to the orange-haired man said, impatience clear in his tone. "What is your decision."

Sakura's eyes flashed like two shards of emerald ice at the question phrased like a statement. "I accept."

"A decision befitting an imperial princess," the redhead replied almost laconically. "Wise."

The rose-haired girl's lips thinned, her displeasure obvious, as her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "It is not as if I have a choice."

=*~*~*=

"Let her go, Tobi!"

'_Had someone told me earlier today that by dinner time I would be in the arms of an infamous criminal who would also be a member of my _harem_, I would have laughed myself silly and then told them that they should visit Shizune for a healing._'

But somehow, that was exactly the position Sakura found herself in, with a surprisingly clingy, masked individual wrapped around her _on her bed_, and refusing to relinquish his hold.

Across from her, the blond man she had come to know as Deidara glared ferociously at the masked one, Tobi, with a hand tightly clamped around her wrist.

"Let go, un! I'm not going to hurt her!"

"Easy for you to say," Sakura responded, half-heartedly acerbic as she let herself be clung to and, in essence, protected by the masked man behind her. "You aren't the one being magically branded."

She had relaxed from her more formal style of speech, the result of reverting to her more imperious persona like she always did when under pressure, now that a shaky accord had been reached. But the final matter of the deal, a spell to make certain she wouldn't just walk free of her chambers and order the next company of guards she saw to throw the men of her harem into prison by keeping her from being able to speak the truth about her harem men and her pact with them or trying to kill them off on her own, meant that she had to have a spell seal tattooed magically to her flesh.

Said plans had come to a screeching halt when, taking strange, irrational offense to mark up Sakura's person, the one called Tobi had practically tackled her to the bed and refused to let any of the others near her.

As amusing as it was, Sakura didn't want the others to feel the urge to be moved to violence.

"It's okay, Tobi," she said reassuringly as she gently extricated herself from his grasp. "This is all part of the agreement, after all."

"But…Sakura-hime…"

Almost flinching at the casual use of her title by the orange-swirl masked man – the only ones who ever referred to her that way were her mother and a couple of the nobles she claimed friendship with – she got to her feet to face Deidara, glad that the other members of her harem, in the midst of a hushed discussion of their own, were ignoring her.

"I know the stipulations that come with a spell seal," she said blandly, though she crossed her arms over her chest so that he wouldn't see her hands tremble nevertheless. "Where do you plan on marking me?"

"Actually, the one who plans on marking you…is me."

Trying not to pale with apprehension, Sakura turned, with a prickle of fear dancing across the back of her neck, to face the man who grinned at her lazily in return. That was not in the least reassuring.

"So you-,"

"Hidan," he interrupted, still grinning that smug smirk of his. "And turn the hell around so I can see where best to mark you."

She stiffened at his abrasive language – she was a princess, for heaven's sake; she'd never been spoken to like that! – but complied to his demand anyway, biting her tongue against the acidic comment that rose to her lips. "Good enough?" she ground out when she had made a full circle.

She squeaked embarrassingly in surprise when he caught her wrist and harshly yanked her forward, making her stumble into his alarmingly _naked_ chest, his flesh warm under the hand she had shot out to steady herself.

In spite of having been trained as a healer like her mother, Sakura had not really spent much time with the male patients, and she could count on her two hands the number of times she had touched a male's flesh in nonmedical circumstances in all her eighteen years. Blushing hotly, her face rapidly turning what she felt must be a most unbecoming shade of raspberry red, she tried to pull away, a shot of adrenaline rushing through her when he refused to let go.

A warm, calloused hand, the one not clamped around her wrist, brushed her cheek with startling gentleness, the touch turning sensuous as he dragged rough fingertips down her throat to her collarbones and across one shoulder. She couldn't stop the shudder that ran down her spine as he touched her, nor the traitorous hitch of her breath when he stopped.

"You're seriously shitting me," he breathed, something that might have bordered on awe in his voice. "When the hell was the last time you'd been with anyone?"

The words were like a slap in the face, and in one fierce jerk of movement, Sakura snatched her hands out of his grasp, nearly catapulting herself back into her bed in her eagerness to put distance between her and the violet-eyed man.

"I am a princess of Konoha," she said haughtily, imperiously. "I've been touched by no man, and I don't intend to let you start now."

Hidan's amethyst eyes narrowed sharply, displeasure practically rolling off his skin as he took a single step forward to close the distance between them. "Well that's just too damn bad, isn't it, hime," he snarled, one hand closing on the back of her neck as the other danced down the side of her throat, making a heated trail southward that stopped at her hip. "Because I'll be touching you all I want as part of our deal." The hand on her hip slid dangerously down a thigh. "So, hime, what part of your flesh is never seen by someone else's eyes?"

"Nowhere," Sakura hissed venomously, wanting badly to struggle against the silver-haired man who dominated her with frightening ease. "On feast days and court days I am washed by attendants," she informed him, "so my maidservants have seen me in nothing on more than one occasion."

"Really."

He sounded more interested than checked by her declaration, raising an eyebrow in consideration, as his early anger seemed to evaporate. "So there's really no-,"

"Perhaps the back of her neck is safe enough," a voice interjected.

Glancing over Hidan's shoulder, Sakura shot a grateful look at her rescuer, the dark-haired one who had been the first spokesperson for the men of her harem and whose name she didn't yet know, who merely raised a single eyebrow in response.

"If you place it high enough, it'll be hidden by her hair even when her maids are bathing her."

"You are a spoilsport, Itachi," Hidan grumbled, obviously displeased with the other's suggestion. But his tone spoke agreement clearly enough, and for that Sakura was thankful.

"Alright, hime, hold still," the silver-haired man commanded her, cupping the back of her neck with a large hand as the others drew near. "This is probably going to hurt like hell…"

The sharp retort on the tip of her tongue died under her gasp of pain.

Tears welling into her eyes, she struggled to subdue to the feeling that someone was attempting to wring her like wet laundry and force her poor brain out her ears, biting her lip until she knew she drew blood. Hazy with pain, she tried to focus on something besides the agony that centered on the back of her neck, falling upon the various colors of her harem males' life forces in a last ditch effort not to pass out.

'_Shark-face is blue, no surprise,_' she began, easing her teeth from her bottom lip as she sucked in a shallow breath. The thread of magical life force linking her to the green-haired one was, '_Dark green. Again, no surprise, but I didn't think Tobi's would be jet black. Hidan's is violet, like his eyes, and the orange-haired one…his is white. Strange._' She focused on the others, now straining against unconsciousness as her vision threatened to tunnel. '_Deidara's is a really ch-cheerful yellow,_' even her thoughts were starting to stutter now, '_The dark-haired one i-is crimson, the redhead is…amber? And the last one…_' The one with the disconcerting, lime-green eyes had a life force that pulsed a dusky burgundy, like the color of drying blood. '_Blood…_'

The pain stopped.

Collapsing into an undignified heap, Sakura panted and tried not to succumb to the sudden bout of nausea that curled around her gut as a deep ache began to form in her bones. Long moments passed before she got herself under control.

"Are we finished?" she asked, willing herself to ignore the sheen of sweat that had formed on her skin, or the fact that she had yet the strength to even stand.

The orange-haired one nodded to her curtly, a dismissive gesture that would have riled her up had she not been so tired. "You are free to leave."

"Wait."

Head pounding with what Sakura could only imagine would become a full-blown migraine in ten minutes, the rose-haired girl glared fiercely at the one who had stopped her from making good her escape. '_Hidan._'

"Not to point out the obvious," the man drawled, violet eyes glancing lazily from his partners' faces to the noticeably trembling figure in their midst, "But we're all going to have to keep up some sort of a façade around everyone else to make sure no one guesses the truth before hime here can locate where our lives are."

"What's your point, Hidan?" Deidara asked irritably, crossing his over his chest as he blew a stray strand of blond hair out of his eyes. "We're just supposed to be her harem-,"

"Exactly," Hidan cut in with a less-than-reassuring smirk. "After a few days, people are going to start wondering what's up if the princess squeaks every time one of us," he brushed his fingers against one of her sweat-damp cheeks and snatched his hand back as she snarled at him, grinning at her feisty response, "touches her. Honestly, the only one of us who has an ice cube's chance in hell of fooling them is Tobi here, and that's not saying much. We're going to have to act more natural with her, and you, hime, are going to have to act more natural with us."

She was going to have to let them touch her, be near her in public, and act like it was natural. Like she didn't feel like there was a knife pressed to her throat every time one of them reached out to her. She was probably going to be expected to relaxed, even happy around them. The thought made her heart sink, the task seemed nearly impossible as she sat there on the cold marble floor of her bedroom and stared up at their unperturbed gazes, but she gritted her teeth and nodded.

"Only in public," she stipulated, finally forcing herself to her feet. "Are we finished now?"

"Only in public should be acceptable," was the only response she got, the finality of the answering tone in the orange-haired man's voice a clear dismissal.

She didn't say thank you, and none of them looked as though they expected it, striding away as quickly as she could without stumbling over her own feet to her bathing chamber, where she hoped the attendants could soak out the fatigue in her bones. She already knew no amount of water could wash the memories of that afternoon from her mind.

=*~*~*=

Much later, encased in a becoming sheath of palest rose silk that flared out from her waist in veritable swathes of fabric, a robe of almost transparent mist-linen settled loosely around her shoulders, Sakura strode through the nearly deserted halls connecting her private chambers to the rest of the imperial palace.

The back of her neck had ceased to ache so fiercely after a long soak and being pampered by her serving maids, and, dressed in one of her loveliest gowns and adorned with jewels and perfume, Sakura felt much more like herself than she had little more than an hour ago after her ordeal with the marking. In fact, by the time she was almost to the banqueting chambers where her mother was most likely growing swiftly impatient at her tardiness, Sakura could almost imagine she was in a good mood.

The feeling died the instant she turned a corner to come face to face with the Grand Vizier.

"Hello, Orochimaru," she greeted serenely, her head held high with pride as the spell seal on the back of her neck started to throb.

"Greetings, Sakura-sama, and my best wishes for your eighteenth birthday," the ash-pale man returned sibilantly, his expression strangely condescending. "Have you accepted many birthday gifts yet?"

About to reply in the negative with the thoughts of her harem still fresh in her mind, something made her pause with wariness. That she had received a harem for her birthday would most likely become common knowledge soon enough; denying their existence would only raise suspicion after having spent all afternoon and early evening in her chambers.

Rapidly changing her mind, she pasted on an unperturbed smile. "As a matter of fact, I have," Sakura replied easily, clasping her hands before her like she used to when she was particularly uncertain of something. "Someone has given me a _harem_. I wish to perhaps thank them, but set them straight that I am not very accustomed to the thought of having a harem at all. I shall ask the Empress," her mother was always 'the Empress' to this man, "who has been so…unexpectedly generous."

"I believe the harem has come through many long channels to reach you, Sakura-sama. It would trouble the Empress for you to feel so negatively towards the men she accepted in your stead. Perhaps they will…grow on you?"

Sakura bit her lip, wishing he hadn't made that comment about her mother's feelings. If it were truly the case that her mother felt she become more responsible about the empire and had accepted a harem as a gift in her place, the last thing Sakura wanted to do was voice her true opinions. Ruling the empire was weight enough on her mother's mind without the added distractions of a daughter's dissatisfaction. Wishing she could snarl a contradiction at the deathly pale man instead of nodding her agreement, she capitulated.

"Perhaps they will grow on me. I suppose there is prudence in waiting to speak my opinions before giving them a chance," Sakura responded airily

"Indeed," Orochimaru agreed with oily obsequiousness. "The banquet waits you now, and there is time later for such thoughts. Do not let me detain you."

Another veiled dismissal. Sakura was beginning to hate them, though it looked like she would have plenty to look forward to as she worked together with her harem in search of the one who wanted her dead. A happy thought.

With that on her mind, she turned curtly and strode off, her head held high as she disappeared in search of the rest of the feasting revelers. And behind her, Orochimaru followed her retreating form with brightly burning amber eyes, a sharp smile on his thin lips.

TBC

* * *

**Sakura's Bedchamber, Late Evening**

Tobi was the first to join her, as he always was, mysteriously appearing at the head of her titanic, canopy bed like a silent wraith with that aura of pleading about him that made him so hard to resist. So she relented, as she had become accustomed to doing over the last few weeks, and patted the space beside her where he cheerfully sprang and made himself comfortable, pressing his head to her hand so that she could run her fingers through his spiky raven-locks, her other hand usually occupied by a book.

She clung to that book as much as possible after the arrival of Tobi, because as much as she loved to read, she knew that it wouldn't be long before the others made an appearance and turned her mind from books completely.

The next arrival was usually Kakuzu, who cited that she was wasting precious resources by attempting to light both her chamber and the side room she had allowed the Akatsuki members to take over as his reason for coming to share her reading light. He would settle near the foot of her bed, a respectable distance away, but somehow, find his way closer and closer to the lamp on her bedside table until his hands were gently running up and down one calf, his book forgotten somewhere in her sheets.

Hidan, whom she had quickly learned, was both impatient and terrible at sharing, would find his way to her room next, causing a general ruckus as he tried to divert Sakura's attention to himself, usually bringing Sasori and Deidara with him. The latter of the two would join in Hidan's nightly tug-of-war over Sakura's body until she was sandwiched between them with both their heads trying to find place on her stomach before drifting off. Sasori kept himself apart from that particular event for the most part, deciding instead to move Sakura and Kakuzu's books before either volume got ruined from their activities before seating himself against the headrest on the other side of her.

At first, Sakura hadn't understood his presence there, but one evening she found to her utter surprise that the redhead had fallen asleep, her only realization of this the fact that his head drifted down to rest on her shoulder, his warm breath feathering across her throat. Deidara's simple explanation that Sasori had mentioned her to be "calming" had brought a flutter to her heartbeat that left her the opposite of the redhead's description for nearly an hour afterwards.

Pein, reappearing from her library where he usually spent his evenings, would then imperiously insinuate himself between the headboard and her body, 'forcing' her to use him as a pillow instead of the numerous down-filled things that adorned her bed. Not that she particularly minded now. Pein was a good deal warmer than her pillows, and Konoha nights were cold past August. Kisame, complaining like a mother hen, would then appear with an extra blanket for Sakura, making certain she didn't get cold…while also attempting to steal her blankets off the other Akatsuki members _at the same time_.

And finally, when they had all quieted, Itachi would douse the lamps in the various rooms they had been using and sit at the edge of Sakura's bed, letting her play with his hair while the others basked in the shared warmth until Sakura fell asleep, usually with one hand still tangled in his unbound raven-dark hair. It gave him an excuse to find a space between Hidan and Sakura and sleep with her hand pressed to his cheek.

"Y-you seem to be in good health, Sakura-san," Hinata of the neighboring kingdom mentioned in passing the next morning.

Sakura merely smiled. "I sleep well."

* * *

Hopefully this chapter was to your guys' liking! I had fun writing it, even the extra scene that was really just a drabble and may NOT actually show up in later chapters. Something similar might, but not exactly as it is written here. As this is my favorite of the Hiwaya series, please do leave me a review. I'd love feedback on it ^^

Also, I will be changing my username to Aria Illusine on April Fools, so keep that in mind. Thank you and please check my profile poll ^^

Aria, out.


	4. Omiai

Hi every one! I really hope you enjoy reading this new chapter of Hiwaya! This is a non-mass ItaSaku (felt like I was writing a bunch of AUs and decided to bring it back to the original-ish ninja world where everything started) about the machinations of one Uchiha Mikoto in her attempts to get the clan elders to leave her eldest son alone. An omiai is, for those unfamiliar with the vocabulary, a formal marriage interview. The two people meet (sometimes under the supervision of older family members and such if it's really formal, they're kinda young, or stuff of that sort) and get to know each other as they attempt to find out if the other person is a suitable partner for matrimony. Apparently it's also very important that both parties are serious about getting married. It's not just a blind date sort of thing, it's a real attempt to find a life-partner.

As far as this fic, the elders believe the omiai's serious, Sakura treats it more like a blind date, and Itachi...well I'll let you guys read on to find out what Itachi thinks. Enjoy!

Title: Omiai

Genre: Romance/Humor

Warnings: None

Pairing: ItaSaku

Disclaimer: I've wished upon stars to own Naruto, but they don't seem to want to listen to me.

* * *

**Omiai**

"Mikoto-san, what can I do for the famed Uchiha matriarch?" Tsunade asked with feigned pleasure as she regarded the calm-faced woman standing before her desk with searching hazel eyes.

In actuality, she was rather wary.

Mikoto hadn't stepped into the Hokage's office since she'd stepped away from regular ninja work, so Tsunade had had almost no experience dealing with the woman outside of Konoha clan meetings.

"I'd like an omiai."

Tsunade stared at the younger woman, utterly flabbergasted, as she carefully considered her next words.

"Ah…Mikoto-san, I…I believe you are already married and, frankly, in spite of my looks, I am old enough to be your mother."

'_On top of being entirely the wrong gender…unless there are things you haven't told me._'

The perplexity in the dark-haired woman's eyes lasted only seconds.

"Oh! Oh, you thought…! NO! I-I mean…no, Hokage-sama," Mikoto assured her, embarrassed to find herself having the most unholy urge to laugh. "I don't want the omiai for myself! I want to arrange one for my son."

'_Oh kami…not with me…_'

"Isn't that a strictly _clan-related_ business?" Tsunade asked gingerly, still wary of Mikoto's intentions. All things aside, the woman was still an Uchiha. And like all Uchiha, she was clever and cunning and dangerous to deal with when she set her mind on something and wasn't getting her way. "The Hokage isn't required to approve of things like this. Only actual marriages."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Mikoto replied, calmly pleasant, hiding the sudden nervousness in her gut that would have made Tsunade raise an eyebrow had she known. "But most omiai don't involve the girl who is the Hokage's apprentice.

Tsunade's brows shot up her forehead. "You want…to arrange an omiai between Sakura and Sasuke. Surely you know-,"

"No, Hokage-sama," Mikoto interrupted gently, her uneasiness finally showing through. "I want to arrange an omiai between Sakura-chan…and Itachi-kun."

"…"

"Why are you doing this?" Tsunade asked when her initial shock finally faded. "This is so…unexpected."

The Uchiha matriarch managed a thin smile, her dark eyes steadily returning the older woman's keen gaze. "Hai, I suppose it is, a little," she agreed, "But…necessary."

"For the clan?" the other woman inquired, skeptical.

"For my son," Mikoto replied, usually calm, sable eyes flashing. "I may be a loyal member of the clan, but I'm a mother first, Hokage-sama," the Uchiha matriarch said flatly. "I just want my boys to be happy."

Tsunade said nothing, merely regarding the younger woman, her chin on her hand.

"This doesn't seem convincing, does it," the Uchiha woman said finally, the uncomfortable pause eventually forcing her to break the silence, a sheepish expression lighting a smile in her eyes.

"Hardly," Tsunade replied with a little smile of her own. "So…let me see if I understand you correctly. You wish for my approval to set up an omiai between my student and your eldest. _For_ your son. Forgive me if I seem a little confused, but your clan elders have been pressuring Itachi to get married for years. How is setting him up with _anyone_ for his good?"

"Admittedly, when you put it like that, it sounds like it would only be sensible to patients in the psychiatric ward," Mikoto said with a wry quirk of her lips. "But you see, I believe Itachi-kun showing willingness to at least _think_ about marriage will get the elders to let up on him. At least a little."

'_Okay…makes a little more sense, but…_'

"What does this mean for Sakura?" Tsunade asked. "She is her own person and I'm not about to involve her in this without a decent…"

The Uchiha's smile was almost coy.

"Tsunade-sama, you're often heard telling Sakura-chan to cut down on her work hours and get out a little more."

'_Touche._'

"Why Sakura?"

At this, Mikoto's smile finally turned beatific. "Because Sakura-chan is perfect. She is a skilled kunoichi and Konoha's best medic, after yourself of course," the Uchiha explained. "She is also almost the only girl Itachi-kun speaks to. She is familiar to him, and he respects her. Itachi-kun will agree to an omiai with her if only because of that."

Mikoto's obsidian eyes softened, a faint hope gleaming in them that Tsunade didn't fail to catch.

'_Oh kami…this isn't just about getting the elders to leave Itachi alone…_'

The Uchiha matriarch noted the reservation in the Hokage's stiff shoulders and stifled a mental groan. '_Oh well, in for a D-rank, in for an A,_' Mikoto thought, quoting an old shinobi adage.

She folder her hands demurely in front of her and smiled.

"Tsunade-sama…would you care to make a wager?"

=*~*~*=

"Okaa-san. This is entirely unnecessary. I do not wish to agree to this."

"Itachi-kun," Mikoto scolded as she seasoned rice to make onigiri, "would it be so terrible to sit through a single omiai?"

The young man in question stared rather pointedly at the kitchen door, as if he only wanted to be elsewhere, before returning to focus on his mother's face. "Okaa-san, you know that I have no thought at the present of getting married. Is this the request of the clan elders?"

"No, Itachi-kun," the Uchiha matriarch said, beginning to mold the rice into triangles, "I wanted you to go on an omiai, for me. I would like to see grandchildren someday soon," she teased.

The flat look in her son's eyes said, clearly, that he did not appreciate the joke.

Putting down the rice ball she had been in the process of molding, the woman washed off her hands and sat down at the table across from her eldest with a little sigh. "Would it really be so terrible, Itachi-kun? I didn't think Sakura-san was disagreeable to you."

Mikoto, watching the twenty-five year old carefully, caught the minute stiffening of his shoulders and hid a smile.

His young, obsidian eyes came up to match her even gaze, only polite curiosity showing in their depths. She had to hand it to her husband; Fugaku had taught their eldest child how to hide his emotions well. But, as Itachi's mother, she could still sense the tension in him, a mixture of surprise and curiosity and – dare she hope? – interest.

"You wish for me to attend an omiai with Sakura-san?" he asked, still exuding that serene, mild curiosity.

Mikoto knew better. Itachi was a smart boy and only double-checked on a statement's meaning if it was of true importance. That the omiai was with Sakura had piqued his interest, and Mikoto wanted to cheer at the reaction.

"Yes, I thought she was a suitable candidate who would be acceptable both to yourself and the clan elders," the Uchiha matriarch told her son matter-of-factly, keeping hidden her romantic-matchmaker motives from her words. "She is a skilled kunoichi and has been a jounin for a number of years. Moreover, she is known to the clan, and you." Mikoto shrugged, as if the matter wasn't really of great importance. "It is not as if I am saying that you must marry her, I would just like for you to give this a chance, Itachi-kun. Tsunade-sama has agreed to the idea."

Itachi let out a tiny, almost inaudible sigh. "Have you told the clan elders of your decision, Okaa-san?"

Mikoto shook her head. "If you went on an omiai, I figured the clan elders would hear of it somehow. It is not as if you need to inform them of your every movement."

The wry look that Itachi gave her, softened with a small smile, said that, clearly, they acted as if they did.

"I will do it."

Mikoto couldn't suppress her happy smile then, though she tried to at least conceal the mischievous gleam she knew might appear in her eyes. "Thank you, Itachi-kun. I know it might seem like a lot to you, but you could start off with a couple of dates and maybe dinner? I'm sure Sakura-san would like to try the tempura-and-udon shop by the market district. Sasuke-kun is always saying how the three of them only ever eat at Ichiraku ramen because of Naruto-kun."

She wasn't quite sure who her son was quietly chuckling at, but if he seemed in a good enough mood to laugh, she was in the clear.

"Now," Mikoto began, turning to matters of greater importance, "What do you plan on wearing to the omiai?"

=*~*~*=

"Shishou," Sakura groaned, trying to surreptitiously massage the knots from her neck with chakra-enhanced fingers. "Why am I doing this?"

"Are you questioning me?" Tsunade shot back, a wicked smirk flitting across her features as Shizune tied the embroidered obi around Sakura's waist in an intricate knot.

"No…just…"

"Just _meet_ the man. Exchange a few pleasantries. Maybe go out on one date. And then, you can drop it," Tsunade said offhandedly. "I just need to see some willingness. You nearly put _yourself_ in the hospital last week after that surgery you were overseeing the new residents perform. Think of this as payback for agreeing to your request that I not put you on paid leave."

The petite pinkette made a face behind the older woman's back, but turned to allow Shizune easier access to put finishing touches to her attire anyway.

"This man _is _a shinobi, right, shishou?" Sakura asked as Shizune began to fasten accessories into her intricately coiled hair. "I don't think I could even contemplate this with a civilian. There'd be nothing to talk about!"

"Don't worry, he's a shinobi," Tsunade reassured her as she serenely poured a measure of sake into her cup from one of the many bottles she had stashed in her office. "You know him, Sakura. He's a pretty well-known ninja, about your age."

'_Well-known, well-known,_' Sakura's mind chanted several minutes later when she found herself cautiously making her way to the teashop that Tsunade had directed her to. '_Who could it be?_'

There were a number of shinobi males around her age…

'_Kiba?_' she wondered. In recent years, the Inuzuka had become pretty famous after he'd rescued the daimyo's daughter on an A-rank mission that had taken a turn for the worse, managing to keep his search-and-rescue team as well as bring the girl back alive from Snow Country.

'_It couldn't have been Naruto or Sasuke, Tsunade-shishou would have said something…and besides, she knows I think of them as brothers. Maybe Neji?_'

It wasn't a totally out-of-the-blue idea. After the main and branch houses of the Hyuuga had relaxed their boundaries as per Hinata's cordial but close relationship with her cousin, Neji, the shinobi had relaxed a good deal from his pre-chuunin days. He was now working as part of the ANBU and rumored to be well on his way to being made captain in a year or so.

'_Or…Shino!_'

Sakura had to admit that she had gotten closer to the stoic shinobi since they had collaborated two years ago on a pharmaceutical project that had involved Shino's family's extensive knowledge of insect toxins and Sakura's ability to build complex poisons and antidotes. His bugs were still a little creepy, but they no longer bothered her like they would have when she was fifteen. She'd even gone out on a thank you dinner with him.

But…

'_Shino's the type of person to do the approaching himself…same with Kiba. Maybe it really is Neji…I guess I'll find out soon?_' Sakura mused as she finally reached the teahouse.

With a steadying breath, she slipped inside.

The place was peaceful, filled with the quiet chatter of the other patrons that mingled with the soft undertone of music. The place exuded a sense of calm and refinement, as well as being comfortable and private enough to keep from being too stiff and formal; perfect for an omiai.

It seemed the regular patrons were used to this kind of thing, because they spared her a few glances to take in the intricate kimono, then returned to their own conversations, obviously having seen this all before.

"Ano…" Sakura began as she approached the teashop hostess.

"Ah, would you be Sakura-san?" the cheerfully smiling brunette asked. "The man your omiai was arranged with is sitting in that booth over there." The woman glanced over at Sakura and giggled conspiratorially. "You really are a lucky girl, he's quite the attractive man."

"Th-thank you," Sakura replied, trying not to be nervous. From her vantage point she could only see the top of the man's head, but his hair was dark and looked like it might be long. It was definitely not spiky, ruling out her previous assumptions of Kiba and Shino.

'_It really must be Neji…_'

But when she approached and he turned at the sound of her footsteps, she couldn't stifle her gasp of surprise as her purse fell from suddenly nerveless fingers.

Because the man who rose to greet her was not, in fact, Neji as she had assumed, but another well-known shinobi altogether; her teammate Sasuke's older brother, Uchiha Itachi.

Every thought in her head stalled until the only one left was a pure shriek of confused distress.

'_How the hell is this man _"around my age"_ Tsunade-shishou?!'_

Obviously the view from a woman who was probably pushing eighty was a lot different from the one of a woman who had just turned twenty last month.

TBC

* * *

**Konoha Memorial Park, Late Afternoon**

"I'm sorry, Itachi-san, this is…embarrassing. I'm not usually this clumsy," Sakura mumbled, feeling her cheeks growing hot as she sat there, feeling tied up in her constricting kimono. She was used to wearing much more unrestricted clothing, and running in the three-layer outfit Shizune had put on her had had some disastrous results.

"It's fine, Sakura-san," the male shinobi in front of her replied, his hands working deftly as he retied the broken strap of her geta. "Okaa-san is always saying that wearing kimono is probably one of the most difficult portions of her meetings with the clan elders. Kunoichi struggle with it because of the restriction of movement."

"Y-yes, that does make running in them a little more difficult," Sakura admitted, a little frightened to find herself blushing even harder, and this time not just from self-consciousness. The color in her cheeks darkened further as he gently grasped her bare foot in one hand, and helped slide the cumbersome little shoe on.

"Now," he said, nonchalantly dusting off his knees before he helped a stunned Sakura to her feet. "Perhaps I could walk you home."

* * *

Haha sorry for the short little scene. I wanted an old-fashioned Japanese style Cinderella moment, complete with geta. Geta are a type of sandal that people wear when in traditional clothing. Usually at any rate. Some people might wear geta just for the heck of it, even with modern clothes. Who knows XD

I hope you guys liked it. The ideas I have for this one are pretty cute, and it's almost entirely fluffplot romance and humor without any real drama so far. Just...Sakura getting to know Itachi and the clan, Sasuke being seriously weirded out by the idea of Sakura becoming part of the family as well as his brother's wife, Naruto being vocal about his opinions (both good and bad), and Itachi debating whether or not to leave it at a few dates or actually surprise the rest of the world by courting the pink-haired girl. Hehehehe...

Please vote on my profile poll!! I want to know which of my fics people prefer to read ^^

The muse asks for cookies and reviews! They fuel her ability to force me to write!

Aria, out.


	5. Fair Winds

Took me a while, but here's the fifth installment in the Hiwaya anthology! There isn't much to say about this one, save that it is my way of addressing the Pirates vs. Ninjas debate (sort of XD). I turned the ninjas INTO pirates! Yes, yes, I know it's truly quite horrifying, but you can't say that you don't think it'd be cool to see some of our handsome shinobi men as swashbuckling, well-dressed, gentlemanly buccaneers...right?

Title: Fair Winds

Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure/Humor/Drama

Warnings: It involves pirates, not ninjas. You are warned.

Pairing: MultiSaku (Itachi, Sasuke, Shisui, Deidara, Kisame, Sasori, etc...)

Summary: When Sakura runs away from her hateful stepfather, stowing away on a merchant vessel, the arrival of pirates who kidnap her for amusement's sake puts a wrench in her plans at a new life.

Disclaimer: I'd love it if someone bought me Naruto for my birthday...but until then, it's not mine and this story is nonprofit and such.  


* * *

**Fair Winds**

"Unsophisticated _pig!_" Sakura snarled under her breath, wishing she had a little more space. But merchant ship brigs were hardly known for their capacity to hold seventeen-year-old stowaways, though she'd not been short on food or drink while she had been there. "Arrange a marriage? Not if I can help it!"

It had been nearly a month since she and her stepfather had had that particular conversation, the event that had caused her to run away in the first place, but the thought of it still brought a swirl of anger to her gut as she remembered their last conversation.

=*~*~*=

_"Daughter, come here."_

_ She hated the sound of his voice, the sibilant quality of his words. But he was still her father, to some degree, so she grudgingly stepped forward, wishing she could take steps back instead._

_ "Acceptable, in spite of being seventeen," he declared after long minutes of staring at her face with his unnerving amber eyes. "You will marry my second-in-command, Kabuto."_

_ "_What?!_"_

_ The word popped out of her before she could call it back, and her father (_step-_father, and it was a connection she grudgingly admitted) stilled, his yellow eyes narrowing in anger._

_ "You will marry my second-in-command, Kabuto," he repeated._

_ Sakura bit her lip. She wanted to scream a loud, resounding "No!" in the man's face, but the look in his eyes said he would make her life hellish if she did, so she merely ground her teeth together and refused to meet his gaze._

_ "You will do it. This will cement your inheritance to the company-,"_

_ "So that's it," Sakura said quietly, her voice trembling with rage. "You want my inheritance from Father and Mother for your little _privateering_ business," she snarled, spitting the word like a curse. "The little merchant business you're running that's nothing more than a sham and a con and a means of _piracy!_"_

_ "SILENCE!" her stepfather bellowed, slamming a fist down on the armrest of his high-backed chair. "You will marry Kabuto as I command, or I will make your life a living hell!"_

_ Swallowing hard and fighting the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks, Sakura forced herself to speak. "It should be no different then before," she said bitterly. "Living with you has _always_ been a living hell."_

_ Tears choking her, she spun on her heel and sprinted away._

=*~*~*=

She'd run away soon after, using the one of her father's merchant ships bound out of the harbor soonest to make her escape, and had lived on the merchandise it carried to sustain her. She had no qualms about spoiling his wares and business deals a little; her father was little more than a thug on the ocean, and every little bit of harm she could do him before she disappeared would be her parting gift.

But other than that, she needed to use the ship's 'facilities' and filch more water to drink.

"If only they'd store water down in the brig like everything else instead of keeping it up in the kitchen," Sakura groaned as she snuck out of her makeshift room (several boxes pushed about to make a small section to sleep in) and found the ship's privy.

Business finished, she rinsed her hands out in the conveniently placed bucket of seawater and dried them on her tattered breeches, a prize she had stolen from her father before she'd left.

"Now…the gallery was…"

"Hoi! Deckhand, you're needed-," a heavy hand landed on her shoulder and spun her around, bringing her face to face with a big-boned man with sparse, carrot-red hair. "Eh? You're not a-,"

That was all Sakura needed to hear. White in the face, she elbowed the man in the gut and took off running.

Behind her, the man grunted in pain and lumbered after her, bellowing at the top of his lungs for others to come catch the stowaway.

Gritting her teeth and knowing she was in deep water, Sakura sucked in a breath and ran faster.

"After her!"

"'Round thataways!"

"Head 'er off!"

Panting, Sakura barreled into another man's midsection, rolled out of the fall with as much grace as she could manage, and kept going, ignoring the twinge of pain in her ankle. '_Not…going down…without a fight…_' She had gone through too much to be caught and made to walk the plank now. Breathless and aching, she turned a corner and collided with a solid body that knocked her to the ground.

A large hand curled around her wrist, yanking her up with inexorable force. "What have we here?" a familiar voice asked, laced with malicious amusement. "My lord, Orochimaru's little daughter?"

Screwing up her sea-green eyes in pain, Sakura blanched as she stared into the face of the captain of the ship, the man who was one of her stepfather's precious commanders: Kidomaru.

"I've caught the stowaway," he announced to his men below deck, "So get back to work, all of you!" With a leering grin to the pale-faced seventeen-year-old he whispered, "I'll deal with you in the captain's cabin."

The captain's cabin was little more than a small room with a desk, a bunk, and a shelf of maps all rolled up into cylinders. With little ornamentation and barely more pleasant to sleep in than her hole in the brig, it looked as her stepfather hardly paid these men who worked for him.

Even in the hands of an unpleasant captor, Sakura couldn't stop herself from feeling the sudden rush of scorn that threatened to show on her face. Her stepfather was a skinflint, who treated even the men who worked with him like dirt.

'_I'm glad to be seeing the last of you_,' Sakura's mind quipped, though she actually had no idea anymore if she wouldn't be seeing her stepfather again. '_You treat everyone like trash._'

But she didn't have any more time to follow that line of thought, because Kidomaru wrenched her arm back harshly to catch her attention, and even biting her lip didn't stop her from giving a soft cry of pain.

His dark chuckle of amusement made her grimace as she stilled in his arms.

"So what do you want?" she hissed when the pain was a little less.

The man thrust her at the bed, smirking as she struggled to get back up as soon as she'd landed. "I don't believe I know very many pink-haired girls. And if your daddy is the person I think he is, I might just get a bit of fun out of getting you back to him."

He chuckled at the sudden stiffness of Sakura's shoulders.

"Yeah, you got that-,"

A resounding boom that shook the ship knocked them both off their feet, Sakura falling back onto the cabin bunk and Kidomaru into the shelf. Maps showered down on him like a papery rainfall, giving Sakura the precious seconds she needed to get to her feet and bolt out the door.

The ship was in an uproar.

The deck was swamped with fighters, battling with sword and cutlass and pistols in ragged groups all over the sea-slicked planking. Smoke colored the air, and the reek of burning wood filled her nose.

Sakura gaped in utter confusion as the battle raged, completely dazed by the cacophony of sights and sounds until a man – one she recognized as a member of Kidomaru's merchant crew – swung his cutlass at her, the blade wobbling drunkenly, the deckhand's eyes glazed over with battle rage.

With a swallowed yelp of fear, Sakura ducked under the slashing blade and planted a foot in the man's gut, shoving him away with a strength she didn't know she had.

A pistol report rang out and the man in front of her went limp.

She grabbed up the cutlass that fell from the deckhand's nerveless fingers as he collapsed, struggling with the sword's unexpected weight. She had already forgotten about Kidomaru, her father, even the man that had just died in front of her. The only thing on her mind was the immediate need to stay alive.

The same, strange strength she had felt before flooded her body, and she hefted the heavy cutlass as if it weighed nothing as she installed herself under the steps leading to the stern-deck of the ship.

A blade leapt out towards her face, and she slashed back, feeling a fierce grin curl her lips at the cry of surprise that issued from her attacker. She beat him, and many others over the course of the next half hour, back from her hiding place with strength and skills she'd never known she had.

Sweat dripped from her brow, the smoke and ash in the air stinging her eyes and throat as she feinted and parried, trying to keep the weariness creeping up her arms at bay.

"What's this? A kitten hiding beneath the stairs?"

An overly cheerful voice cut through the din of fighting cries and Sakura flinched back, her blade coming up to guard once again, though the tip of it weaved about as her arms trembled from fatigue.

She narrowed emerald eyes at the male with dark eyes and wavy, ebony hair that seemed too cheerful for the battlefield. "Stay away from me," she hissed, wishing she could yell but feeling too out of breath to manage it, "Come near me and I'll slice your head off your shoulders."

He laughed in surprise, the saber in his hands gently tapping her heavy cutlass to test her reflexes, "You're no cabin boy; I'd stake my life you're a girl! And one with claws, it appears," he added when her blade parried his questioning taps. "Odd company this ship keeps."

"I don't keep company with this ship," Sakura snarled, growing frustrated with the teasing way he was dealing with her. "They mean nothing to me."

"Nothing?"

The blade in her hand flew across the deck to imbed itself into the woodwork of the ship. She didn't even have time to register shock or anger at how easily the man had managed to disarm her before he grabbed her wrist and yanked, flipping her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Her breath knocked out of her, Sakura didn't even have a chance to scream as he snatched at a loose yardarm rope, and swung out into empty air. But scream she did, as soon as she got her breath back, in curses and threats as she struggled in the man's arms.

"Feisty," he laughed, breathless when one of her knees nearly caught him in the gut. "I don't think I regret kidnapping you at a-,"

"A strange piece of plunder you've brought back, Shisui," a mildly amused voice lilted, interrupting Sakura's kidnapper.

The stranger's voice was a low tenor, not quite a baritone, and almost…musical. Like he would have been a good singer had he tried. But the tone was filled with command, demanding respect that she gave subconsciously, falling silent as the man carrying her – Shisui, she told herself, though what was the point of learning the name of a kidnapper – put her down on a foreign deck.

She knew, immediately after turning around to face the strange crew, which of them had spoken. He drew her eyes like a lighthouse beacon drew ships, his ebony hair strangely vibrant in the smoky air as he strode nonchalantly across the deck to regard her with searching eyes.

"The little mouse behind the boatswain," he remarked at last, holding her gaze with his. "It appears you survived the battle."

Sakura's eyes widened marginally as she tore her gaze from his own, obsidian orbs, to fix on the pistols that he wore so casually at his belt. '_Did he…was he the one who…_' The remembered retort of the pistol that had killed her first attacker echoed loud in her mind.

He had saved her life. She was sure of it.

"Kitten, actually, Itachi," Shisui corrected with a quiet chuckle as Sakura impressed the man's name into her mind. "With claws in the form of a dead man's cutlass."

The other – '_Itachi,_' Sakura reminded herself – raised an eyebrow, his expression bland in spite of the way she could almost palpably _feel_ the amusement rolling off of him.

"Since the other ship is in flames and most likely unsalvageable, especially since we've managed to acquire most of its goods, you will have to sail with us for a bit. At least until we put into another port." His dark eyes scanned her slim frame, as if debating the wisdom of his next words before continuing. "Thank my cousin, Shisui, for your good luck at not being stuck on that fire hazard of a ship you used to be on, though most wouldn't think it _good_ luck."

"Why?" the question popped out of her before she could stop herself, and the sudden, closed-off look in the man's eyes made her wish she'd swallowed her tongue.

He turned away, sweeping a hand out to indicate the well-dressed, if somewhat motley, crew and the ship they occupied. "Because we are the crew of the Ravenhelm," he turned back to her as the others chuckled dark amusement, "and our business is piracy."

He gave her another, piercing once-over as a cold chill ran down her spine and the word '_pirates_' reverberated through her mind.

"It appears you are proficient with a blade. We will remember not to let you have one."

His calm remark made her look down at herself for the first time since she'd begun fighting, and her mind reeled. Blood splattered her drab, tattered outfit, splotches of crimson darkening to brown on her clothes. With hands that shook noticeably, she ran trembling fingers across her neck and cheeks and brought them away wet.

Her stomach heaved, and Sakura barely made it to the deck rail before losing her lunch.

=*~*~*=

"Here."

Sakura, having just woken up, snatched at the blanket draped over her, vaguely registering that she now occupied a narrow bunk in a dimly lit cabin instead of a section of the deck. She was pretty certain she'd passed out after having rid herself of the meal she'd filched from the merchant ship stores not too long ago, but someone (or perhaps several someones) had moved her to an out-of-the-way cabin, probably somewhere just above the gallery.

And then they'd stripped her naked.

Okay, not entirely naked. She still had on all her own undergarments, but the long tunic that covered her was definitely not her own, and Sakura glared at the newcomer as if he was the culprit of her unexpected change of attire.

The male stepped into the watery beam of sunlight coming from the cabin's single porthole, and Sakura swallowed a hiss.

The dark eyes and coal black hair was unmistakable.

"Drink, you lost too much water throwing up," he told her, holding the corked bottle in his hand like some sort of peace offering, and she frowned, realizing he was not who she'd thought he was.

The face was familiar, but he was younger than Itachi, and his features were smoothed of the lines that marred the older male's face.

But there was no reason not to have something to drink, especially when her tongue felt like sandpaper had been glued to the roof of her mouth. Accepting the bottle, she gulped down the liquid, her eyes widening in surprise when she realized it was both cold and palatable.

"It's water!" she exclaimed, blushing immediately after the words left her mouth. She sounded like a simpleton.

"You thought it would be something else?" the young man, she decided he was probably around her age, asked with a raised eyebrow, the growing smirk on his features making clear his amusement. "Something like rum?"

Sakura's blush deepened. "No," she lied bluntly, "I just thought it'd be…murkier."

"No one on the Ravenhelm drinks rainwater," the male told her scornfully. "Without a ship medic, we take good care of ourselves so as not to waste good coin on village herb women. We are not a regular crew of pirates."

"I can see that," Sakura muttered under her breath, smoothing her expression into a more innocent one when her current company narrowed his obsidian eyes at her.

"If you're done."

"Oh, yes," Sakura replied quickly, corking the half-finished bottle of water before thrusting it into the man's hands. "Thank you…uh…." She glanced sidelong at the dark-haired male, thinking that she would be damned before she called him sir but having nothing else to use in place of his name.

"Sasuke," he filled in, saving her the trouble. "But you can also refer to me as Master."

He stepped out of range before she could untangle her legs from her sheets to kick him.

"You delusional-!"

"I see you two are getting along wonderfully."

Sakura, cut off before she could give the arrogant male named Sasuke a piece of her mind for his overly chauvinistic attitudes, glared at the newcomer scathingly, the expression growing even darker when she recognized who it was.

"Hello, kitten. Feeling better?" Shisui asked, slipping into the room to make the already crowded cabin feel even more closed-off.

"I'll be fine once that arrogant idiot removes himself," Sakura replied with every inch of haughtiness she had ever learned from her stepfather. "I would _never_ call him my master."

"You're on that again, Sasuke?" Shisui laughed, ruffling the younger male's dark hair until Sasuke threw off him off and disappeared out of Sakura's cabin. "He's the ship's quartermaster. Don't mind his thing with being called Master. The only one you should call that would be the ship's captain, Sasuke's brother Itachi."

"I don't plan on calling anyone my master, Shisui," Sakura said tartly, trying to wrap the sheets more securely around her body as she frowned up at the older male. "Not Sasuke, or you, or Itachi."

"Suit yourself," the man laughed, now rummaging through a chest at the foot of the cabin's narrow cot. "But whether or not you plan on calling anyone 'Master', you ought to come out on deck and meet the rest of the crew." He tossed a forest-green tunic and cream-hued breeches onto the bed, on top of Sakura's sheets. "Wear those and come out whenever you feel disinclined to stay in this little box of a room."

With another little smile, Shisui excused himself, leaving a half-dressed Sakura huddled under a cloak made of her sheets, staring at the clothes and wondering just what she should do.

'_Is this how they treat prisoners on the, what did they call it…the Ravenhelm?_'

TBC

* * *

**Deck of the Ravenhelm, Dusk**

"Enjoying yourself, yeah?"

Sakura tore her eyes away from the sunset on the horizon, a tiny smile gracing her elfin features. "I guess you could say that, Deidara," she replied quietly before letting her gaze wander back to the skyline.

"Something tells me that isn't all the case. Tell me what's on your mind, yeah, sweetheart?" Deidara pressed, coming up beside her to lean on the ship rail Sakura was sitting on.

The girl sighed. "Life on a pirate ship is…a lot different from what I thought it'd be," she admitted at last. "I know that the privateering business my stepfather owns is criminal…" her eyes flickered to Deidara's face but the ship's gunner continued staring out at the ocean so she let herself continue, "The same way that what you do on the Ravenhelm is wrong."

"But," he prompted when she lapsed into silence.

"But…I heard your stories. I know why you were all driven to this life. And it doesn't…it doesn't seem as wrong any more."

"Worryin' over nothing?" a new voice drawled, drawing the gazes of the two at the ship rail.

Kisame, his hands full of tankards, raised an eyebrow at them. "Well?"

"I don't think it's nothing, yeah," Deidara said, accepting a tankard from the gill-tattooed man. "Sakura's considering the pirating life."

"So it's a big deal," Kisame confirmed, putting the extra tankard he carried into Sakura's hands. "What're you thinking about it?"

Sakura, turning the mug of pale ale around and around in her hands, nibbled her bottom lip. '_Am I really considering the life as Deidara says I am?_' she wondered, frowning at her drink. '_What _am_ I considering, really?_'

The choice was between being put ashore at the next port, they were close to one now and she knew they'd arrive in three or four days, to live as whatever she could make of herself and the healing she had learned before running away from her stepfather…or becoming a part of the Ravenhelm's crew and sailing the seas with Deidara, Kisame, and all the other members she had befriended in her weeks on board.

Leaving behind a life on land would be difficult, but leaving her new friends would hurt worse than anything she had ever known since losing her mother.

Swishing the beer in her tankard around, Sakura allowed herself a tiny grin.

"I guess-,"

The sudden rise of an unknown ship's mast appeared between the waves, and the roar of cannon fire drove the answer from her lips unsaid.

A bellow from the crow's nest, Shisui's voice cutting through the evening like a saber blade, sent adrenaline rushing through her blood.

"Enemy ship off the starboard bow!"

* * *

Glossary (tell me if I'm missing anything!!)

Starboard: Right side

Port: Left side

Bow: Front of the ship

Stern: Back of the ship

Quartermaster: the person in charge of keeping the ship stocked and armed

Gunner: the person in charge of cannons and ammunition

Deckhand: common sailor on the ship

The phrase "Fair winds" is actually the pirate way of saying goodbye. It gives the whole story a bit of a melancholy tang to it if you think about it…but who knows how I'd twist that all around.

On top of all that, "Ravenhelm" is a name I actually wanted to use as the title of another fic I wanted to write about Uchiha clan members and people locked up in towers and the ability to shape shift…so it may end up as a chapter in Hiwaya eventually. Other than that, I thought it sounded like a cool name for a pirate ship captained by Itachi ^^

Sorry that not all the pairings were evident in the first chapter. Fair Winds, if I ever get around to writing it, will have a slower pace of storytelling, and involve a number of battle scenes. I don't really have much of an idea for a plot beyond Sakura's running away from home and trying to escape Orochimaru and running into trouble with the Navy and Danzou...but other than that...XD

The muse wishes to be fed brownies this time it seems, and enjoys your reviews with great relish!

Aria, out.


	6. Timeless

This story takes place in a small town in England in 1876, inspired by the manga entitled Hana to Akuma. I wrote this one AGES ago...back...well back when I first started my AkaSaku phase I think. There was this, Sweet Fairest (an AkaSaku retelling of Snow White), and Belonging...and we know which one got written out in full =P So I thought I'd do Timeless the honor of being put up here. This is what might have been if Belonging hadn't been the story chosen. (Sweet Fairest has a spinoff tale entitled Household Chores that I'm reserving for my 30th story on FFnet that I've literally been working on and off for the last...almost nine months now? Whenever Belonging first started...or maybe even before then...basically whenever I first started tossing around the idea of writing retellings of fairytales with Naruto characters...)

Please do enjoy and leave reviews~!

Title: Timeless

Genre: Romance/Drama/Humor

Warnings: Supernatural beings

Pairing: AkaSaku (All Akatsuki members including Pein and Tobi, but not Madara and Konan)

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Sakura is woefully innocent, having lived a very sheltered life as the ward of a group of immortals called the Akatsuki. And they will stop at _nothing_ to keep their mortal girl out of the danger presented by demons, spirits, and boys.

Disclaimer: I dream about owning Naruto someday. Someday.  


* * *

**Timeless**

Takes place in a small town in England in 1876.

He was nervous. Beyond nervous. In fact, there could not be anyone more nervous than him at this very moment as he stood in front of the front door of the ornate Victorian mansion, waiting for someone – _anyone_ – to come answer it.

But, in spite of the knee-knocking terror running through his system, he knew this would something he would undoubtedly do for his beloved Sakura-chan. There was nothing he wouldn't do for the innocent little rose-haired girl in his class at school, and that included bearding the proverbial lions' den to see her.

Why did she have to live with such terrifying people?

A jolt of pure panic shot through him as one of the large double doors creaked open…but the emotion pumping adrenaline through his veins quickly changed to joy at the sight of the pretty, pale face that peeked out.

"Sakura-chan!"

Large moss-green eyes blinked at him sweetly. "Idate-kun?"

=*~*~*=

"Idate-kun, are you alright?" she asked, wondering why her classmate was so _tense_ as she led the way to one of the mansion's smaller guest parlors. "You seem…nervous…"

"I-I'm fine, Sakura-chan," he reassured her with a grin that shook a little at the edges. He was lying through his teeth and he knew it, but he couldn't exactly tell her that he was terrified of her family. He wasn't about to mention that _triviality_ to the beautifully dressed girl beside him, speaking of which…she really did look lovely. In spite of being dressed in a day gown of beige and burgundy with black trim and ribbon accents, she looked alluring. The rosy curtain of silken locks spilled from the black bow holding up a portion of her hair in a sweet little half updo. "Th-there's nothing wrong…"

"If you say so," the girl replied dubiously, flipping her waist-length candy-colored hair over her shoulder in an unconcerned gesture. She decided Idate must be feeling out of sorts; he was never like this in school, but they _had_ been on holiday for the last week. It was entirely possible that he'd gotten ill over the break and hadn't gotten back to his usual good health just yet. "Would you like anything in particular while you wait, Idate-kun? I'm not sure how long it will take for me to hunt up my old classical music records…"

"Oh…um…j-just tea is fine…"

"I'll let Itachi-san know then," Sakura replied with a small smile as she stepped into the parlor. "Please make yourself comfortable, Idate-kun."

"O-of course, Sakura-chan…" he replied faintly, his eyes glued to the luxury of the parlor. _'I knew Sakura-chan's family was wealthy but…'_ It definitely was a sight that would have stunned even a discerning eye, well trained to riches.

An ornate couch that would easily have seated three large individuals and a loveseat of a similar style flanked the sides of a beautifully carved and lacquered mahogany coffee table. Another two armchairs stood at either width-end of the coffee table, indistinguishable from one another except by the fact that an ottoman accompanied one while the other was devoid of a footrest. A number of beautiful oil paintings decorated with walls, creating tasteful breaks in the rich burgundy wallpaper with its beige fleur de lis pattern. Elegant little ornaments adorned the mantle above the unlit fireplace.

For a boy from a family with a relatively modest income, it was a lot to take in.

"Ano…Idate-kun…you can take a seat…"

He flushed to the roots of his dark hair, and quickly settled onto the sofa. "Sorry…please, the music records?" He didn't want to rush her, but the sooner she went to get them the sooner she'd be back, and the sooner he'd be able to forget that he was sitting in one of the mansion's parlors for the first time in his life.

A shy flush warmed Sakura's cheeks. "Of course, Idate-kun, I'll be right back," she assured him, stepping out for the parlor and down the hall to a small study where she knew Itachi would be.

"Itachi-san?"

"Sakura," he greeted, his lips curving into an alluring smile as the ebony-haired male slid gracefully to his feet. "You know we prefer you to leave off the honorifics." They'd been trying to get her to stop since she'd turned sixteen nearly half a year ago, but to no avail yet.

"S-sorry Itachi-san…it's habit," the girl explained with a tiny stammer, her cheeks still tinted faintly crimson. "It's just that Idate-kun has come over and you make the best tea…"

"I thought I felt a presence entering our house," the obsidian-eyed Uchiha said easily, fixing the younger girl with a warm gaze as he traced the curve of her cheek with a gloved finger. "Sakura, you must know that you need not merely imply that you need my skills. You are-,"

"I don't care, Itachi-san," Sakura replied, her smile heartfelt as her fingertips gently brushed over his cloth-covered knuckles. "I prefer asking."

"Then, as you wish," Itachi responded with an answering curve of his lips as he retracted his hand. "I will make tea for yourself and your…guest. Will you tell the others that you have someone over?"

The viridian-eyed girl nodded, hearing the gentle command in his voice. It was a rule of thumb that all others were warned if anyone came to visit. True, she'd never had a guest before today and the others didn't entertain often, but it was a good rule to have nonetheless. "I was going to do that right now, I just thought you'd be closest."

"Smart Sakura," the older male chuckled softly, playing with a lock of strawberry-milk hair that slid over her shoulder. "Go now."

"Yes, Itachi-san…"

He shook his head as the girl disappeared off, a small frown of annoyance finally skating over his aristocratic features. He could _feel_ the boy in the other room, and his affection for the girl with the carnation-pink hair was obvious for all to see…all but the girl in question. Trust Sakura to be oblivious to male advances. She was that way towards all men, even the ones who lived in the mansion with her as her 'cousins'.

"Sakura…when will you see past all this and realize how we feel for you?" Itachi wondered with a melancholy shake of his head as he strode off to the kitchens.

Meanwhile, Sakura had made her way upstairs to her chambers, having run into none of her other housemates, and found to her surprise that the classical music records that she had been meaning to look for were now piled neatly on her bedside table.

"How…"

"Sakura?"

"Ah, Zetsu-san!" she greeted with an open smile. "Were you the one who found my classical records?"

The bicolor male nodded in response, his chaotic mop of verdant hair falling into keen amber eyes. "I was hoping to borrow them for the conservatory. I read in an article recently that music helps plant growth."

"Does it really?" Sakura asked in surprise as she collected up the records, carefully dusting off the record jackets. "That seems like such a strange concept…"

"I was hoping to test it out, actually," Zetsu confessed. "**It probably isn't true.** But we ought to try…"

"Here, why not try Vivaldi's Four Seasons?" she offered, placing the record into the male's unresisting hands with an impish grin.

"**Mischievous girl.** Thank you, Sakura," the amber-eyed man told her, glancing to the stack she still held in her hands. "Are you planning on doing something with the rest of them?"

"Oh!" Sakura gasped, feeling embarrassed at her own forgetfulness. "Idate-kun from school is here because we were covering baroque and classical musicians in music class today and he said he'd never heard any before…"

"**So you invited him over?**" Zetsu asked, his grin laced with sardonic humor. "Sakura…"

"N-no!" the girl denied vehemently, shaking her head until the rose-colored locks danced down her back. "I only said that he should perhaps come over to listen to my records some day…I didn't know he would take it as an invitation to come over _today!_"

The bicolor male chuckled as he brushed some wayward strands of her hair out of her eyes. "I didn't mean anything by the question," he reassured her with an easy grin. "But perhaps I can do you a favor and warn the others about your little…guest?"

"You don't have to, Zetsu-san," Sakura replied with a shy smile. "I don't mind looking for the others…"

"Perhaps not, **but we'll find the others anyway. You'll want to go straight back downstairs.**"

Sakura glanced up into the more feral expression on Zetsu's face that always appeared when his darker side spoke up. The look had scared her once, but time had a way of eroding such fears, and now the change merely made her feel even more protected by the amber-eyed male. "What do you mean, Zetsu-san?"

"Your classmate might be just a boy, but he apparently had enough of an aura to attract some notice because I'm pretty sure I saw Hidan and Deidara making their way downstairs not too long ago…"

Verdant eyes widened as a gasp issued from Sakura's lips, nerveless fingers losing their grip on the stack of music records she'd been carrying in her arms. They clattered loudly to the carpeted floor as the blood drained from her face.

_'Oh no…'_

=*~*~*=

"Admiring the décor, un?"

Idate gasped, jumping in surprise and nearly dropping the glass figurine he'd been studying. "I-I'm sorry?" he stammered, quickly replacing the ornament to the mantle as he spun around to face the speaker and his companion as they stood in the doorway.

The one who had spoken was most likely the blond with the ponytail, though it was hard to tell. He hardly looked like someone concerned with a response, instead fiddling with the chain that looped from one pocket of his sable waistcoat to another, as if bored by the entire situation. The young, auburn-headed boy missed the hooded cerulean eyes that followed his every movement with keen intelligence tempered with a touch of disdain.

The other was grinning openly, and the expression did nothing to bolster Idate's confidence. It was a full-blown smirk that was beginning to border on menacing as its owner took several sauntering steps into the parlor.

"You bloody well would have been sorry if you'd dropped it, tosser," he said offhandedly, in the same manner as someone offering a thinly veiled threat coupled with a rather meaningful cracking of knuckles. "What're you doing in our house?"

"I'm h-here to see S-Sa-Sakura-chan," the young teen stammered, his bravery crumbling under Hidan's intimidation.

Deidara's half-hooded eyes narrowed. "Sakura-_chan,_ is it, un? And you were…"

"Morino Idate," the boy, he was really nothing more than a boy in Deidara's eyes, replied as staunchly as he could. "I'm Sakura-chan's classmate."

"Of course," the blond replied, his voice taking on the same quietly sinister quality as Hidan's. "Come, take a seat, I'm sure Itachi will be here with tea soon, un." Deidara smiled as he sank into a seat at one end of the couch.

Idate warily sat at the couch's other end, Hidan throwing himself onto the loveseat as the parlor descended into an uncomfortable (at least for Idate) silence.

"So, brat, what half-arsed excuse did you use to see Sakura?" Hidan asked offhandedly, face devoid of a smile. "Schoolwork?"

"Art?" the blond interjected with another knife-blade thin smile.

"N-no…music…"

"And are you always this impolite?" a mahogany-haired man asked, casually leaning against the doorway, the rolled-up cuffs of his white shirt showing off a number of stitched up scars crisscrossing his forearms to match the ones that marred his tan features.

"What do you mean…impolite?" the teenager asked, a note of doubt creeping into his voice.

The other three exchanged smug looks. "You just showed up to Sakura's place, unannounced and unexpected, hoping to use the excuse of music to spend time with her?" the new arrival asked, raising an eyebrow disparagingly. "She would have let us know if she had invited someone over because _Sakura_," he added with a hint of a sneer, "was brought up to have manners."

"Sh-she _did_ invite me!" Idate protested. "I mentioned that I'd never heard half the pieces our teacher mentioned in class today and she said I should come listen to her records some…day…" The blood drained from his face.

"_Someday._"

And that single word was enough. He was an unwelcome interloper at a private party.

"Figures our girl would end up having this brat-faced excuse of a boy for a classmate, bas-,"

"Idate-kun!" the girl in question appeared at the doorway, her cheeks flushed, arms empty of records with a distinct expression of relief appearing in her eyes.

"Sakura-chan!" he yelped, flushing dark crimson as his voice cracked on her name. "I-I…I'm sorry, something very urgent came up, Ineedtogorightnow!"

"O-oh…okay then…" she replied, somewhat nonplussed. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

He nodded hastily as she trailed him to the front door and waved goodbye, his face the shade of a ripe Red Delicious. "I'm such a f-!" Pain erupted in his chest as he collided with a tall figure and fell hard against the cobblestone walkway leading to the mansion.

"Oh? Did we have a guest today?"

A shudder coursed down Idate's spine as he struggled to sit up among the autumn leaves he'd landed in. "S-sorry…" A knife-blade of pain lanced through his lungs as he gasped in fear.

The man staring down disdainfully at him raised an eyebrow, the afternoon light glinting off of the piercings that lined either side of the bridge of his nose. Orange hair fell into hypnotically terrifying eyes.

A scream of terror died in Idate's throat as the man swept past him and into the house.

=*~*~*=

"Did you have a guest today, Sakura?" Pein asked as he shed his overcoat in the entrance hall.

"Sort of," the sixteen-year-old confessed with a small grin as she led the way down the hall to the mansion's 'family' parlor.

Here there was much more space, a corner of the room taken up by a burnished, burgundy baby grand piano with bookshelves of fiction lining the wall behind it. An ornate chandelier hung above the gilt-edged coffee table, with its intricate pattern of cherry blossoms inlaid in mother-of-pearl on the surface. A couch, three armchairs (this time two with and one without an accompanying ottoman), and two more loveseats, ranged around it. Above the fireplace hung a beautifully executed oil painting of nine men and a single, strawberry cream-haired girl.

Deidara, Hidan, and Kakuzu were already there, Itachi appearing at a far entrance with a tea service in hand, when she and Pein arrived.

"Here already?" Sakura asked, her voice a little _too_ devoid of suspicion. "That was fast."

"You know we like the family parlor best, un," Deidara replied cheerfully as he patted the portion of the loveseat he was at that remained unoccupied.

"Of course," was her wry response as she ignored his gestures and sank into the single, ottoman-less armchair across from him, smiling impishly at his disappointment.

"Sakura-chan is mean, un," he mock-whined, arms crossing over his chest in a manner that would have been petulant on a younger-looking individual.

The girl refused to be baited. "That's what you get for chasing away Idate-kun. He's a classmate you know; I'm going to have to see him tomorrow and the day after and for weeks and months and maybe even years. He's probably terrified of me now."

"So what?" Hidan asked carelessly as the rest of their little 'family' filtered into the room. "Bloody hell, he was a rude little brat."

Sakrua giggled. "Isn't that rich coming from you, Hidan-san?" she teased, pulling just out of reach when the silver-haired man tried to snag one of her candy-colored locks to tug.

"He's a guy; he should be more cautious in coming over," redheaded Sasori remarked as he scooped two spoons of sugar into his tea.

"Yes, what if he was mean to you, Sakura-chan!" Tobi, the youngest of the males, added, his voice loud with agitation. "You have to be careful!"

"We are all here for your protection, Sakura," Itachi agreed as he handed her a cup of honey rosehip tea. "From everything, including little boys like Idate." He smiled as she blushingly accepted the drink from him. "From things like him especially."

"Th-thank you, everyone," she managed; her cheeks warm as she sipped her hot tea. "I always appreciate your protection…"

"It is our pleasure," Pein responded for the group. "You are our ward; we will always be looking out for you."

As the afternoon dissolved into its usual quiet chatter, he wondered whether Sakura was aware of just how true that statement was for all of them. They held a unique bond with her and she was their precious girl, their little princess, and there was nothing they wouldn't do for her happiness.

TBC

* * *

**Akatsuki Mansion, Teatime**

The front door opened with a forceful bang as a young girl in an ornate gown dashed through, almost forgetting to close it after her as she sped down the hall.

"Sakura?"

Acting as if she hadn't heard, the rosy-headed girl dashed past two of her surprised housemates, her pounding footsteps echoing through the halls.

"What the bloody hell is up with that girl?" Hidan asked, frowning ferociously after her as he leaned back against the wall, crimson-violet eyes glaring down the hall Sakura had disappeared down.

Deidara, standing next to him, shrugged. "I have no idea, un."

He and the silver-haired man followed the loud noises of the girl's rush through the house, joined in a few minutes by the rest of their household, until they reached the girl who frantically shuffled through her belongings, turning her neat room into a rather chaotic mess in very little time.

"Sakura. What is going on."

The girl's head came up with a jerk of surprise, a flush deepening her cheeks as she turned and locked gazes with one of her favorite members of the household. "Pein-san!" She glanced around, as if finally realizing what a mess her room had become. The color in her cheeks darkened further. "I…I…"

"Tell me."

"I…"

The soft touch of a hand on her bare arm made her turn in a flurry of rose-cream hair, her emerald eyes wide. Itachi's obsidian gaze hypnotized her with a seriousness that seeped into her fluttering heartbeat, calming her better than a mug of warm milk with honey would have.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, glancing shamefacedly around her messy room. "I didn't mean to make such a commotion. I…"

Pein shook his head nearly imperceptibly. "Tell us downstairs. Tea should almost be ready."

Sakura's flushed face wavered, and a slow smile spread over her features. "I'll tell everyone everything, though you guys will probably laugh. I was looking for the photographs we took three years ago. My classmates wouldn't believe we attended a duchess' ball."

Pein, about to let Sakura know that the photographs she had been looking for were kept in one of the folio's of the mansion's extensive library, exchanged a glance with Itachi and checked himself. He could remember the pictures clearly and, in spite of the grainy quality of the photographs that could not match up to a true canvas painting, Sakura had been a rather adorable figure.

The last thing he wanted was for someone in her class to see her in the exquisite gown their family friend, Konan, had made for the rose-haired girl.

"I don't believe I have seen those photographs in a while, Sakura," he said with perfect honesty as the unique family made their way downstairs for tea. "Perhaps one of us could vouch to you friends for you?"

* * *

I think I added a lot of Pein in this fic...but for once I wanted a balanced spread between my Akatsuki members (I'm ALWAYS favoring Itachi or sometimes Deidara and Sasori over the others), so I let Pein take more lines. The style of the story was meant to be old-fashioned (so I made a mistake in using the word "guys"...but hey, I'm not perfect), and somewhat more slice-of-life for a few chapters before getting into any drama. But the basic storyline is that Sakura's a mortal and she's living with all these immortal men (you can hardly tell they're immortal except in that one scene with Zetsu) who love her and have protected her for years. But she's known for a while that she'll continue to grow older and eventually die and they won't change, so she takes matters into her own hands and tries to win herself immortality in the Other Realm.

I peppered the basic story spread with lots of tea (both the first chapter and the extra scene end during tea) and trips to the Night Realm (also Other Realm or Dark Realm) and supernatural beings...but who knows if this one will actually become a chapter fic. It might just end here...

Amusing note, I made Hidan's swearing "British" XD hence the reason why he kept saying bloody. I thought it was a funny idea, also because I don't actually swear in real life so it feels really strange to be writing a character who curses like a sailor and "bloody hell" never seemed like that big of a curse to me...

Your reviews keep the muse creative, so please leave me one! ^^

Aria, out.


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